LONDON, April 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry discussed a raft of international and bilateral issues at a meeting on Wednesday, including the Korean crisis settlement and a possible ministerial meeting of the Middle East Quartet of negotiators.
Speaking about the Korean Peninsula, where tensions have flared in the past months, Lavrov said that Russia will go ahead with its search for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, and the United States and Japan share this approach.
Lavrov said after the meeting that fuelling tensions in the region was “inadmissible.”
“As long as there is a chance to bring the sides back to the [six-party] talks, we will look for it,” the Russian minister said.
The six-party talks, stalled since 2009, involve North and South Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
Lavrov and Kerry also discussed a possible ministerial meeting of the Middle East Quartet of negotiators on the Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement. The last such event was held about a year ago, and the negotiators were unable to convene since because the United States refused to take part for various reasons.
“There is an understanding that such a meeting should be held soon,” Lavrov said, without specifying a date.
The Russian minister said Moscow wants representatives of Arab States, Israelis and Palestinians to take part in the talks of the Quartet, which includes Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.
Among bilateral issues mentioned by Lavrov after the talks was Russia’s envoys paying a visit to a Russian citizen being held in the Guantanamo prison. The minister said the visit, during which the envoys are supposed to check the conditions the prisoner is being kept in, is now “being prepared.”
The next meeting between Lavrov and Kerry is scheduled to be held on April 23 in Brussels, on the sidelines of a Russia-NATO ministerial summit.
