But Lavrov said he and Kerry had agreed that Russian and U.S. officials would continue to work to find a common strategy for fighting the Islamist militant movement.
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Lavrov’s remarks came after a meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of the ASEAN Ministerial in Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur, according to a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“We all agree that IS is a common threat and a common evil”.
At a joint press conference held with Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohammad al-Attiyah, Lavrov stressed that Washington “never asked the Syrian government’s consent” for the airstrikes which, he asserted, represented a violation of worldwide law and of Syria’s national sovereignty.
Kerry acknowledged Turkey’s support for Syrian refugees.
Russian Federation has sought to take the lead in brokering peace in Syria in current weeks, with President Vladimir Putin proposing throughout a June assembly with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and protection minister to type a broad “anti-terror entrance” that might unite the disparate forces and nations now independently battling piecemeal enclaves of Islamic State warriors.
Ahead of the meeting, Cavusoglu said “Now we are training and equipping the moderate opposition together with the United States, and we will also start our fight against Daesh very effectively soon”, he said, referring to IS.
Mashaal also discussed with Lavrov “Zionist terrorism in the West Bank and its assaults on Muslim and Christian sites in Jerusalem”, the official said.
The Coalition had refused to visit Russian Federation amid anger over Moscow’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in an ongoing war that killed more than a quarter of a million people and displaced many more.
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One US official said that Kerry would use the meeting with the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to “try to respond to any remaining questions they might have, hopefully satisfy them and ensure that they are supporting our effort going forward”. In July, Iran and six world powers reached an agreement obliging Tehran to guarantee the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities in exchange for an easing of sanctions against the country.
