Russia has invited Kurds to take part in Syrian peace talks taking place in late January in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, local media cited foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Monday.
"Kurdish representatives have been included on the list of Syrians invited to participate in the Syrian National Dialogue Congress which will take place in Sochi next week," foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said.
Syrian Kurds should play a role in the "future political process," Lavrov told reporters.
The invite to Syrian Kurds to attend the Sochi meeting came despite a cross-border operation launched by the Turkish military on Saturday that is aimed at dislodging the armed wing of Syrian Kurdish group the PYD from its Afrin enclave in northern Syria.
Turkey considers the PYD's armed wing, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) to be a terrorist group.
The Sochi peace talks, slated for 29-30 January, are aimed at forging a new post-war constitution for Syria.
Iran, Russia and Turkey have organised separate Syrian peace talks in parallel to rounds of United Nations backed peace negotiations taking place in Geneva aimed at ending the seven-year conflict.
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