MOSCOW - The provisional list of participants in the future Syrian National Dialogue Congress to be held in Sochi includes "a large number" of Kurds, but not members of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the Russian President's Special Envoy on Syria Aleksandr Lavrentiev told Interfax.

"We have tried to ensure the broadest possible presence of Kurds without incurring rejection by our Turkish colleagues," Lavrentiev said. The eighth session of Astana talks on Syria is underway in the capital of Kazakhstan.