The United States is calling on Russia to cooperate in preparing a resolution on Syria for a vote at the UN Security Council, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland has said.
U.S. Secretary of State discussed the issue with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a phone conversation on Friday, Nuland said.
"Clinton's discussion with Sergey Lavrov focused on the activity in the UN Security Council and how the U.S. and Russia can work together to make sure that we can get to a UN Security Council resolution," she said.
Clinton "expressed her hope that the U.S. and Russia can work together," the spokeswoman said, adding "It was a good conversation."
On Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said France and Germany will go ahead with a resolution condemning violence in Syria at the UN Security Council and try to persuade Russia, who has opposed such a resolution, to change its mind and back the document.
Syrian rights organizations have estimated that some 1,300 people have been killed and more than 10,000 arrested in Syria since protests demanding the end of President Bashar al-Assad's authoritarian rule broke out in the country in mid-March. Some 10,000 people have fled to Turkey as Syrian security forces have cracked down on towns and villages at the Turkish-Syrian border.
Russia has called for a diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis, saying that the situation in Syria does not present a threat to international peace and security and that the Syrians themselves should resolve the violent confrontation without any outside influence.
WASHINGTON, June 18 (RIA Novosti)
