Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow and Washington agreed to continue to coordinate efforts to prevent violations of the cessation of hostilities in Syria.
In a joint press conference following high-profile meetings in Moscow with his US counterpart John Kerry on Thursday, Lavrov said “Today we’ve agreed to continue coordinating actions in order to secure the cessation of hostilities regime, to curb violations of this regime.”
“As the immediate task, we have agreed to push for the soonest start of direct talks between the government delegations and the whole spectrum of the opposition,” he added.
Lavrov pointed out that the Syrian government has supported the Russian-American initiative approved by presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama and formed by International Syria Support group while the opposition has not done so for long.
The Russian Foreign Minister criticized preconditions set by the opposition that exclude Kurdish groups from the Syrian talks.
He stressed the need to push to have all parties abide by Geneva Communiqué and the Security Council resolution adopted according to this Communiqué.
As for terrorism, Lavrov said that “There are many analysts and political figures, including in the United States who admit that that terrorism was largely triggered by erroneous actions of the West in that region.”