Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Tuesday that the fifth round of talks on Syria in Astana, Kazakhstan, is scheduled for July 4-5.

“We are now preparing for this meeting — we wanted to hold it on June 12, but we were told that they will not be ready by that time, then we were told 20,” Sputnik quoted Bogdanov as saying.

“Now our Turkish and Iranian partners say that they will not be able to study all the draft documents that we submitted, and which should be agreed during this meeting, so now we are talking about the beginning of July,” he added.

Iran, Turkey and Russia brokered the Astana talks on Syria and the first three rounds of the talks were held on January 23-24, February 15-16 and March 14-15.

The fourth round of the talks was held in May during which a document on creating de-escalation zones in Syria was signed.

According to the document, the de-escalation zones include Idlib province and part of the provinces of Latakia, Hama and Aleppo, the area to the north of Homs, Eastern Ghouta, as well as Deraa and Quneitra provinces in southern Syria.

The de-escalation zones are closed to the U.S.-led coalition’s aviation. The coalition’s aviation can operate only in areas controlled by Daesh.

NA/PA