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Middle East and North Africa

Meeting of Russian and US representatives on Syria put off

Moscow regrets the decision made by the US

Photo ITAR-TASS/Grigory Sysoev

Photo ITAR-TASS/Grigory Sysoev

WASHINGTON, August 27 (Itar-Tass) - Meeting of Russian and U.S. representatives on Syria that was initially due to take place in The Hague Wednesday, August 28, has been put off, the Department of State said in a report issued Monday night.

The note said that, considering the continued consultations on elaborating an appropriate response to the attacks in Syria, which involved chemical weapons, a decision has been taken to postpone the meeting. At this meeting Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman and Ambassador Robert Ford were to meet with the Russian delegation. The meeting was supposed to be held in The Hague later this week.

Russia regrets the decision taken by the US upon the meeting, as stated by Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov in Twitter. "It is desolating that our partners decided to cancel the bilateral Russia-US meeting for discussing the convocation of an international conference on Syria," he noted. "Drawing up of parameters of peaceful settlement in Syria could be very useful right now, when this country is under threat of a coercive intervention."

The statement issued by the Department of State also said that the US would be closely interacting with their Russian partners to set up a new date for the meeting and confirmed the commitment of the US to an integral and secure settlement of the political crisis in Syria.

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