Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his U.S. counterpart John Kerry held a telephone conversation on Wednesday to discuss the outlook for concerted action against terrorists in Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Advertisement
Kerry, now on a visit to Nigeria, had said Monday that he hoped to meet Lavrov this week.
Earlier Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that Lavrov will meet with Kerry to discuss the Syrian conflict in Geneva on Saturday, following reports that progress had been made at negotiations between Russian and US experts in Geneva over the Syria crisis.
“Other issues” will also be on the agenda, spokesman John Kirby said, without giving any details.
The Russian foreign ministry said the foreign ministers discussed Syria in the telephone conversation, “including the situation around Aleppo where the (Syrian) government forces, with the support of the Russian military, have been carrying a humanitarian operation”, Reuters reports.
The will focus on the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine.
Russian Federation also said that the two ministers had talked about the need to separate “Washington-oriented” Syrian opposition groups from the “terrorist groups” that are not covered by a regularly broken ceasefire.
On Ukraine, the U.S. supports the pro-Western government in Kiev and has led sanctions against Moscow for annexing the Crimea in 2014 and supporting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Kerry and Lavrov also talked over the soaring tensions in Ukraine.
Advertisement
“On August 26, the talks of Sergey Lavrov and John Kerry will take place in Geneva”, the Ministry said.
