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.
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Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed the meeting.
Washington and Moscow have been in contact for weeks over establishing military cooperation to fight the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria.
“Other issues” will also be on the agenda, spokesman John Kirby said, without giving any details.
Kerry, now on a visit to Nigeria, had said Monday that he hoped to meet Lavrov this week.
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 two sides discussed prospects for coordination of actions of Russian Federation and the United States in Syria and the need for disengagement of Washington-oriented opposition groups from terrorists, which are not covered by the cease-fire, it said. The US has accused the President Vladimir Putin of purposefully bombing so-called “moderate” rebels in the country. Russia, meanwhile, says the United States is essentially supporting radical militants.
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko warned of a possible “full-scale” Russian invasion.
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“On August 26, the talks of Sergey Lavrov and John Kerry will take place in Geneva”, the Ministry said.
