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The date for Syria peace talks in Astana will be set following the ongoing consultations in Ankara and they could be postponed for a week, a source in Syrian opposition told Sputnik on January 11.

“The timeframe for the talks in Astana has not been determined yet; most likely it will be postponed for a week,” the source said.

The source further added that participants of the Astana talks would attend intra-Syrian consultations in Geneva to form a unified opposition delegation, which would include both political forces and representatives of armed groups.

The Astana meeting was expected to be held on January 23 while a meeting in Geneva will be held on February 8 under the auspices of the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov previously said that preparation for the Astana meeting on the Syrian crisis is quite intensive.

“It is unclear how long the talks will last, we can say nothing more specific now,” Peskov said, noting that Russia will be represented at the talks “at the expert level.”

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has earlier said that he agreed with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to offer to the conflicting parties in Syria to continue peace talks in Astana.

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev supported this initiative and expressed readiness to provide a platform for such negotiations in Astana.

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