Talks on consolidating the Syrian ceasefire held in Kazakhstan this year helped jumpstart the United Nations-led peace negotiations in Geneva, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday.
At the first round of the talks in the Kazakh capital Astana in January, Russia and Iran, allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Turkey, an Assad opponent, reaffirmed a shaky ceasefire between opposition fighters and the Syrian government.
"A mechanism to control the ceasefire has been created, which is the most important thing," Putin told reporters during a visit to Kazakhstan.
"This is the foundation that has allowed the Geneva negotiations to resume."
The Astana ceasefire has repeatedly been violated, while the war with terror groups such as Daesh - which are not included under the ceasefire - has raged on.
