Nur-Sultan talks, Spanish elections, Kim in Russia

Nur-Sultan peace talks

The 12th round of negotiations on the Syrian crisis between Turkey, Iran and Russia took place in Kazakhstan. The participating countries conducted intensive consultations in a bilateral and trilateral format.

The guarantors of the Astana process hope to help UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen initiate a Constitutional Committee, but some questions remain to be resolved.

The parties also discussed the issue of returning refugees to Syria, as well as post-conflict reconstruction of the country and rendering assistance to the Syrian people in the process.

The issue of fighting terrorism in Syria also remains on the agenda – particularly due to the difficult situation in the province of Idlib, where more than 90% of the territory remains controlled by the terrorist organization Tahrir al-Sham.

Spanish elections

During last Sunday’s elections in Spain, the Socialist Party retained their hold on power but did not receive an absolute majority of seats in parliament. To form a government, it will need the support of other parties. The main sensation of the elections was the ultra-right party Vox, which for the first time entered parliament, boasting more than 10% of the vote.

With 99.4% of the ballots counted, the Socialist Party received 28.7% of the votes.

US withdrawal from Arms Trade Treaty

United States President Donald Trump announced that Congress will not ratify the International Arms Trade Treaty signed under the presidency of Barack Obama in 2013.

According to him, the UN will soon receive an official notification of the decision.

Kim Jong-un in Russia

The first talks between the leaders of Russia and North Korea took place on April 25 in Vladivostok. They discussed the prospects of interstate relations and examined in detail issues related to the situation on the Korean Peninsula. The summit was the first in-person meeting between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un. After the meeting, Putin noted that the two had an interesting and productive conversation and the North Korean leader called the exchange of views very informative.