"Today hardly anyone can dispute the fact that the Astana process and its achievements have become an effective tool for upholding peace and stability in Syria, a tool that proved to be viable and highly relevant. I should point out here that there have been baseless efforts to downplay and even negate the importance of the Astana talks," the foreign minister noted.

ASTANA, March 16. /TASS/. Those who seek Syria’s dismemberment and the creation of favorable conditions for geopolitical games are attempting to negate the role of the Astana Syrian peace process, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after a ministerial meeting between Syria’s peace guarantors - Russia, Iran and Turkey - on Friday.

"We can clearly see it - this is being done by those who are uncomfortable with a partnership between Russia, Turkey and Iran and who don’t want Syria to remain an integral state and [would like] to turn this key country into a new area of chaos suitable for playing out geopolitical games," the top diplomat explained.

"To counter this reckless line, the three guarantor states are firmly demonstrating their steadfast adherence to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, that is the core principles enshrined in the UN Security Council resolutions, chiefly Resolution 2254," he added.

These key principles were clearly affirmed, when representatives of all groups of Syrian society convened at the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi held this past January at the initiative of the Russian, Iranian and Turkish presidents.