Russia is currently in contact with third party states that will possibly send their observers to monitor safe zones in Syria in accordance with a memorandum signed in Astana, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters.
"The memorandum assumes that observers from third party countries would be invited to ensure the proper functioning of these safe zones… We are now in talks with possible participants of this process," Lavrov stated on Thursday. "We think that we will be able to discuss it in more details with our partners sometime soon."
Russia and Turkey are the guarantors of a nationwide Syrian ceasefire regime that came into force on December 30, 2016, and has been holding up in general, despite continued reports of violations. The UN Security Council passed a resolution in December 2016 supporting the effort, Sputnik reported.
Earlier in May, Russia, Turkey and Iran signed the memorandum on establishment of safe zones in the country as part of the Astana talks on Syrian settlement. The four zones include the northwestern Idlib province and parts of the neighboring Latakia, Hama and Aleppo, the north of the central Homs province, Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, as well as southern Daraa and Quneitra regions.