January 20, 2017•Update: January 20, 2017
NEW YORK
The U.S. on Thursday acknowledged it received an invitation to a meeting in Kazakhstan to help pave the way for negotiations to end the six-year Syrian war.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said the Donald Trump administration has not yet announced a response to the invitation.
“Our embassy in Moscow did receive an invitation delivered to them from the Russian Foreign Ministry which they duly passed on to us here … so we are aware that there is an actual invitation for the U.S. to participate,” Kirby said.
“But as far as I know, no decision has been made and this is, as the secretary said last week, this is something that would be up to the incoming team to decide, not him,” he added.
Negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition to reach a political solution to the war are due to begin Jan. 23 after a cease-fire deal was brokered last month by Turkey and Russia that halted fighting in the war-torn country.
