MOSCOW, April 10. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry have expressed support to the efforts of United Nations Syrian envoy Staffan de Mistura to convene another round of intra-Syrian talks in Geneva, the Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday after their telephone conversation.
The two top diplomats noted the necessity to expand Russian-U.S. cooperation to promote lasting truce in Syria. "The ministers stressed their commitment to build up efforts to rebuff Islamic State, Jabhat al-Nusra (both outlawed in Russia) and other terrorist organizations linked with them. They also agreed to take additional efforts to block routs of feeding these organizations with gunmen and weapons from abroad," the ministry said.
"The sides reiterated the necessity of ensuring an inclusive nature of the intra-Syrian dialogue, including full-fledged participation of the country’s Kurdish population in the negotiating process," the ministry said.
Lavrov and Kerry also agreed to take efforts to promote normalization of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. "The two top diplomats hailed the agreement on cessation of hostilities in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and agreed to take efforts to promote normalization of the situation in the regions," the ministry said, adding that the two top diplomats also discussed other issues on the common agenda.
The conversation was initiated by the U.S. side.