Lavrov, Kerry discuss situation in Syria’s Aleppo, Ukraine - Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his US 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. "There has been a discussion of the situation in Syria, including Aleppo, where government troops with support from the Russian military have been conducting a humanitarian operation, and the outlook for concerted action by Russia and the United States in the struggle against terrorists to build up from the previously achieved agreements, including the need for drawing a clear border line between the Washington-oriented Syrian opposition groups and the terrorists groups that use these as a cover and to which truce does not apply," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. During the phone conversation held at the initiative of the US side, the top diplomats also exchanged views on the Ukrainian crisis. Lavrov urged the US "to use its influence on Kiev to warn it against provocations and encourage dialogue with Donbass and implement all the accords enshrined in the Minsk Package of measures and in the framework of the Normandy Quartet’s activity," the ministry said. Lavrov and Kerry are due to hold talks in Geneva on August 26, the Foreign Ministry told TASS earlier in the day. The talks are expected to focus on the anti-terrorist cooperation of Russia and the United States in Syria. Earlier experts of the two countries held consultations in the Swiss city to discuss the possibilities of this cooperation. Read more