MOSCOW, March 1 (RIA Novosti) – The presidents of Russia and the United States tasked Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry with working out new initiatives to resolve the ongoing conflict in Syria, the Kremlin said in a statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Barack Obama discussed key international issues and bilateral cooperation in a telephone conversation on Friday.
“In the context of the Syrian conflict, Putin stressed the need to put an end to military activity as soon as possible. The presidents ordered Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry to maintain active contact with the goal of working out possible initiatives for the political settlement of the crisis,” the statement said.
Lavrov and Kerry discussed the issue of the Syrian conflict resolution earlier in the week, when they met for nearly two hours in Berlin on Tuesday.
The statement also said Obama and Putin agreed to hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland on June 17 and 18.
Putin once again extended an invitation to Obama to pay an official visit to Russia, the statement said.
