Not breakthrough decisions on Syria at Istanbul summit

Moscow does not expect breakthrough decisions at the four-party summit on the Syrian conflict settlement in Istanbul on Saturday involving leaders of Russia, Germany, Turkey and France, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"We have already said that it would be probably incorrect to predict that the summit is held with the aim of reaching certain agreements," Peskov said. "Obviously we need to be realistic that this is not the case."

"But this summit is an excellent platform for comparing the notes, exchanging opinions and searching for possible areas of cooperation," Peskov added.

The Kremlin spokesman added that the summit of the Russian, Turkish, French and German leaders, has been scheduled for this Saturday, October 27, in Istanbul, and it "is a very interesting format, absolutely new and quite logical from the stance of the countries involved in the solution of the Syrian problem."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier put forward the initiative of holding this summit. Last week, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov confirmed that the summit would be held "in the near future," but did not specify the date.