MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US State Secretary John Kerry held a phone conversation in which the two positively assessed "real progress" in ensuring a cessation of hostilities in Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Sunday.
"An overall positive assessment of real progress was expressed in achieving a truce on Syrian soil, which is generally respected and has already led to a sharp decrease in the level of violence," the ministry noted.
Lavrov and Kerry stressed the need to "avoid delaying the start of intra-Syrian negotiations under the auspices of the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura."
Lavrov and Kerry also agreed to cooperate in the issues of the Yemeni conflict settlement with all the involved sides.
"Minister and State Secretary continued the discussions of the continuous conflict in Yemen and expressed their concern of its severe humanitarian aftermath. The agreement to continue cooperation with all the involved sides, including Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed in order to find the ways to the settlement through political dialogue was reached," the statement reads.
