Kremlin says date for Syrian National Dialogue Congress not set yet

A date for the Syrian National Dialogue Congress has not been set yet, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday. Media reports said that the congress may take place in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on December 29-30 and involve a delegation of the Syrian Kurds. Peskov said, however, that “there is still no decision on dates.” He added that in this case, “no one wants to somehow artificially accelerate the process so that the congress is held before the end of the year.” Moscow has stressed that the congress is not an alternative to the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva, but is aimed at facilitating the Geneva process, TASS said.