Russia invites Trump to take part in Syria talks
Russia has invited U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration to take part in the upcoming Syrian peace talks in Kazakhstan, The Washington Post said Friday.
The move by Russia suggests that Obama administration has been bypassed by the Russian side.
Turkey, which is one of the sides of the talks has said that Washington would be asked to join the Syrian talks which will be held in the Kazakh capital Astana, on January 23.
The Obama administration said on Friday that it had not been asked to attend the talks.
"We have not received any kind of formal invitation to the meeting," said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.
"But if we do receive an invitation, we will certainly make a recommendation to Trump's incoming administration to honor it," he said.
"Our recommendation would be -- and we've said this before -- that we support any effort aimed at getting political negotiations back up and running in Geneva and aimed at solidifying the cease-fire in Syria."
Iran is also a party to the talks which aim at paving the way to end the long lasting conflict inside Syria.
Iran and Russia has been supporting the Syrian government since the beginning of the conflict in 2011.
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