Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry says several Syrian opposition groups have asked President Nursultan Nazarbaev to host talks with opposition delegates in a bid to resolve Syria's civil war.
Astana did not specify which groups made the request, but said they were invited to Kazakhstan "only for a deeper study of the issue in order to find out if additional talks are needed."
Ministry spokesman Altai Abibullaev suggested delegates from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime should not be excluded from any peace talks.
Abibullaev quoted Foreign Minister Erlan Idrisov as saying Astana has no "intention to substitute the existing platforms" of peace talks -- known as the Geneva and Moscow formats.
Those formats both include mediated talks with Assad's delegates and moderate opposition figures, but have made little progress.
A moderate opposition figure, Randa Kassis, said in early April that Nazarbaev would be asked to meet with "Syrian opposition activists."
