Russia's President Vladimir Putin will host a trilateral summit with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts in the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi.

Thursday's meeting between Putin, Iran's Hassan Rouhani and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan will focus on the long-term settlement of the Syrian crisis, the Kremlin said in a statement on Monday.

But the three leaders will also discuss projects and coordination on the international arena. On the sidelines of the summit, the trio will hold individual meetings, according to the Kremlin.

The summit is the fourth of its kind since Putin, Rouhani and Erdogan first met in Sochi in 2017.

The three states refer to themselves as "guarantor countries", claiming they fight for securing peace in Syria. In December 2016, they brokered a ceasefire, setting up the so-called "de-escalation zones" in the war-torn country.

The Syria talks run in parallel to the Geneva talks organised by the United Nations.

But Russia distrusts the negotiations organised by the West. On Wednesday, Russia stayed away from a Middle East conference organised by the United States in Poland, a NATO member.

The Russian foreign ministry said in comments carried by the Russian news agency Interfax that Moscow views with concern "US attempts to impose unilateral geopolitical interests through initiatives presented as opinions of the entire international community".

Iran also criticised the US for seeking the withdrawal of the Iranian military out of Syria.

"The conspiracy of major states like the US will not affect our policies," Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in comments carried by Russian state news agency, TASS.

Defence ministers meet

Thursday's Sochi talks were preceded by a meeting between Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar in the Turkish capital Ankara on Monday.

Shoigu and Akar said they needed to coordinate their next moves on Syria, solving a few remaining issues ahead of Thursday's summit.

Russia and Turkey share a strong opposition to the US military presence in Syria and are coordinating ahead of the planned withdrawal of Washington's troops.

Iran and Russia are close allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey supports the opposition.

Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman of Russia's foreign ministry, said last week that Russia demanded Turkey do more to tackle rebel fighters in Syria's Idlib province and fulfil promises it made as part of a deal with Moscow last year.

Turkey and Russia brokered a deal in September to create a demilitarised zone in the northwest Idlib region that would be evacuated of all heavy weapons and opposition fighters.

The deal helped avert a government assault on the area, the last major bastion of Assad's opponents.

Speaking at a news conference in Moscow, Zakharova said the situation there was rapidly deteriorating and that rebels were trying to seize control of the entire de-escalation zone.

"Given the extremely difficult situation in the Idlib de-escalation zone, we expect our Turkish partners to activate their efforts to ultimately turn the tide and to fully carry out the obligations they took upon themselves," Zakharova was quoted as saying by the foreign ministry. </s> Russian President Vladimir Putin is hosting the leaders of Turkey and Iran for talks about a Syria peace settlement as expectations mount for an imminent and final defeat of the Islamic State group.

The talks are expected to kick off in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Thursday.

Russia, a key backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad, is getting increasingly impatient about militants in Syria's Idlib province.

Russia and Turkey, which supports the Syrian opposition, had brokered a cease-fire for Idlib, the last remaining rebel stronghold that averted a major government offensive but that deal has been strained as al-Qaida-linked militants seized towns and villages in Idlib.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says Russia is going to raise its concerns at the talks about the presence of "terrorists" there. </s> Baku. 4 February. REPORT.AZ/ Russian presidential spokesman Dmitriy Peskov said the presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran - Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hassan Rouhani - will meet in Sochi on February 14.

Report informs citing RIA Novosti that Putin's bilateral meetings with the Turkish and Iranian leaders will take place on the same day.

The expected meeting with Putin in Sochi was announced by Erdogan in his statement for local press. </s> The presidents of Russia, Iran and Turkey on Thursday agreed that the upcoming withdrawal of United States troops from the Syrian conflict would be positive for the Arab nation.

Vladimir Putin, Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met at the Russian Black Sea port of Sochi to discuss the military aspects of the long-lasting civil war with an eye toward future joint measures to be taken in order to help normalize the situation in Syria over the long term. </s> Leaders from Russia, Turkey and Iran have descended on the Black Sea city of Sochi to discuss ways of ending Syria’s near-eight-year civil war. Meanwhile, hostile talk is emerging from a meeting of the US and its allies in Warsaw.

Ahead of the talks, the Kremlin said the purpose of the convention would be to discuss potential “joint steps” that can be taken to bring about a “long-term settlement” in the war-torn country.

In addition to the joint forum, President Vladimir Putin is also holding separate talks with Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran’s Hassan Rouhani.

Speaking at the start of his meeting with Putin, President Erdogan said there was still uncertainty over Washington’s plan to remove troops stationed with Kurdish forces in northern Syria. However, he added that Turkey was willing to move ahead with coordinating a possible ‘safe zone’ with Russia.

Both Iran and Russia have been key allies in helping the Syrian government to defeat Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). NATO-member Turkey also has a keen interest in Syria. In 2016, Turkish-backed Syrian militias seized two border crossings and now control a strip of Syrian land as deep as 30km. The grab was considered a bid to contain the Kurdish militias of the YPG, a group seen as terrorists by Erdogan, preventing them from expanding further along the Turkish-Syrian border.

The Sochi summit comes as countries allied to the US are in the Polish capital for two days of meetings. Organized under a similar theme of bringing “peace and stability to the Middle East,” the talks have been seen as a way for US President Donald Trump to drum up support among European and Arab allies for further action on Iran.

Meanwhile, the Israeli leader has been even more blunt. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel and Arab countries are in talks “in order to advance the common interest of war with Iran,” although the translation from Hebrew was later downgraded to “struggle.”

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to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media won’t tell you. </s> The presidents of Iran, Turkey and Russia meet on Wednesday for their second tripartite summit in under six months, aiming to speed the peace process for Syria and bolster their influence in the country.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will host his Russian and Iranian counterparts Vladimir Putin and Hassan Rouhani in Ankara for a meeting that could have a critical bearing on developments in Syria.

The meeting will be the second such tripartite summit after the first hosted by Putin in November in the Black Sea city of Sochi and will be a new symbol of the increasingly deep cooperation.

The three powers have backed peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana which they argue are a parallel process to support UN-supported discussions in Geneva.

Experts say that Ankara, Moscow and Tehran have quite different interests but have for now decided to team up to take advantage of the waning Western influence in Syria.

Hours before the summit, US President Donald Trump said he wanted to "bring our troops back home" from Syria after indicating last week the US would withdraw from the country "very soon".

Jana Jabbour, professor of political science at Sciences Po university in Paris, said the aim of the summit was to "reorganise and renegotiate the zones of influence in Syria as well as to reflect on the future of Syria's north after US withdrawal".

Turkey drove out Kurdish militia from Afrin city on March 18, two months after it launched an offensive in northern Syria supporting Syrian rebels.

Erdogan has indicated Turkey could extend its operation to the YPG-held town of Manbij as well as Ayn al-Arab (Kobane) and Qamishli, all east of Afrin.

"Erdogan likely wants to use the summit to secure Russian and Iranian support for expanded operations in northern Syria or Iraq," said Elizabeth Teoman, Turkey analyst at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

After bilateral talks with Putin on Tuesday, Erdogan said Turkey and Russia would continue their cooperation "focusing on our common interests" in Syria.

Jabbour said Iran and Russia would give free rein to Turkey in the north against the YPG in exchange for bringing the groups it controls to the negotiating table.

"Turkey remains a key player in the Syrian crisis especially because of the opposition groups it controls. A solution to the crisis is unimaginable without Ankara's contribution," she added.

While Moscow and Tehran support the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad politically and militarily, Turkey has repeatedly called for his removal and supported Syrian opposition fighters.

Last year, the powers agreed to set up "de-escalation areas" in western Idlib province, north of Homs province, parts of Deraa and Quneitra provinces in southern Syria and Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, which has come under heavy bombardment.

Cooperation between the three in Syria "may break down at some point", Teoman warned, while issues between Moscow and Turkey could come to the fore over Idlib.

Idlib's civilian infrastructure is largely controlled by the jihadist alliance Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate.

Turkey is keen to prevent a Russia-backed regime assault on the province home to around 2.5 million people who analysts say would have few places to flee after having already fled areas like Ghouta and Aleppo.

Turkish armed forces have now set up eight observation posts to keep the ceasefire intact but Moscow wants Ankara to also exert influence over the jihadists in control of Idlib.

Teoman said that tensions between Russia and Turkey "will flare up again when the pro-regime coalition refocuses on Idlib province."

Tensions may also be emerging behind the scene between Russia and Iran, with Moscow much more concerned to press for reform under Assad than Tehran.

More than 340,000 people have been killed since the war began following anti-government protests in 2011, while millions have been internally displaced or forced to flee.

Turkey hosts over 3.5 million Syrian refugees and Ankara is keen to avoid a further influx ahead of 2019 elections and also wants to install some refugees in safe zones inside Syria. </s> MOSCOW (Reuters) - Iran’s speaker of parliament said on Thursday he hoped the presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran would reach a final agreement on Syria’s rebel-held enclave of Idlib at a summit in Tehran on Friday, Russian news agencies reported.

“I really hope that at the summit tomorrow in Tehran, in which (President Vladimir) Putin is going to take part, he will be able to reach a certain final agreement with his colleagues on the events happening in Idlib,” Iranian speaker Ali Larijani was quoted as saying by RIA during a trip to Russia. </s> MOSCOW, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Iran’s speaker of parliament said on Thursday he hoped the presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran would reach a final agreement on Syria’s rebel-held enclave of Idlib at a summit in Tehran on Friday, Russian news agencies reported.

“I really hope that at the summit tomorrow in Tehran, in which (President Vladimir) Putin is going to take part, he will be able to reach a certain final agreement with his colleagues on the events happening in Idlib,” Iranian speaker Ali Larijani was quoted as saying by RIA during a trip to Russia. (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova Writing by Tom Balmforth) </s> Turkey, Russia and Iran have said they were committed to achieving a "lasting ceasefire" in Syria, in a joint statement issued following a summit in Ankara hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Russia's Vladimir Putin reaffirmed their commitment to cooperating for "the achievement of a lasting ceasefire between the conflicting parties", a joint statement on Wednesday said.

The three powers have been working together to speed up the process of finding a political solution in Syria as part of the Astana peace process which began last year.

The Ankara summit at Erdogan's presidential palace was the second such tripartite summit following one in November 2017 in the Black Sea resort of Sochi hosted by Putin.

However, they still have big differences over Syria's future.
The Kremlin announces that Russia, Iran and Turkey will hold their fourth round of talks in Sochi on Thursday with regards to their roles in the Syrian Civil War.