Decisions on the de-escalation zones in Syria adopted at the talks in Astana are related to Washington’s initiatives on putting an end to violence in Syria put forward at the beginning of this year, TASS news agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as saying on Saturday.

"The United States proposed at the beginning of this year, with a view to creating conditions to ensure safety of civilian population, to stop violence in those regions where fierce fighting was underway between government and armed opposition forces," Russia’s top diplomat said.

"It is not by chance that the United States welcomed the results of the meeting in Astana, specifically, an agreement on setting up de-escalation zones," he noted.

The memorandum on setting de-escalation zones was signed in Astana on Thursday by Russia’s chief negotiator, Russian Presidential Envoy on the Syrian Settlement Alexander Lavrentiev, Deputy Undersecretary for the Middle East and Africa at the Turkish Foreign Ministry Sedat Onal and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African Affairs, Hossein Jaberi Ansari.

Source: MENA