Russian FM discusses coordinating with the US in Syria

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region--Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed US-Russian coordination in Syria on the phone with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said.

Lavrov’s phone call with Kerry came the same day he told students at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations that Russia is “pressing for the earliest beginning of a full-fledged political dialogue in Syria.”

“The UN has the corresponding mandate, but it is not very active in the sphere so far,” he said, according to Russia’s Tass news.

Lavrov claimed that Russia is pushing for a negotiated settlement to the Syrian crisis.

“International terrorism is our common enemy,” he said. “We are convinced that combating international terrorism is possible only on the international law basis, without double standards and with respect for UN central role.”

He claimed that Russia was “guided by these principles, when in response to the Syrian government’s request we sent a contingent of the Russian Aerospace Forces to Syria to fight the Islamic State, Jabhat al-Nusra, no matter how they are called now.”

The US and Russia are negotiating an agreement to coordinate their military operations in Syria against these groups.

On Monday a source told Russia’s Interfax news that such coordination could begin by mid-September.

Kerry and Lavrov last met last Friday to discuss the remaining “technical issues” which needed to be worked out before they could begin any coordinated operations.

“We are close,” Kerry said. “But we are not going to rush to an agreement until it satisfies fully the needs of the Syrian people.”

Russian FM discusses coordinating with the US in Syria

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