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Conflict in Syria

Russian, Saudi Arabian top diplomats to discuss Syria

The situation in Syria and the Middle East in general, as well as bilateral relations will be discussed by the Foreign Ministers of Russia and Saudi Arabia

MOSCOW, April 26. /TASS/. The situation in Syria and the Middle East in general, as well as bilateral relations will be discussed by the Foreign Ministers of Russia and Saudi Arabia, Sergey Lavrov and Adel al-Jubeir. The agenda will also include issues of high-level contacts, cooperation within the framework of the Russian mechanism - the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, and the situation in the energy market.

The situation in Syria will be one of the main topics of the talks - the incident on April 4 in the city of Khan-Sheikhun allegedly with use of toxic chemicals, and the subsequent attack by the United States on the Syrian al-Shayrat airfield, seriously aggravated the situation around this country.

Read also

US imposes new sanctions on Syria over suspected chemical attack

The ministers might also discuss the details of the visit of the King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to Russia. Chairman of Russia’s Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko said earlier that the monarch could visit the country this year.

Moscow and Riyadh had previously agreed to cooperate in regulation of oil prices.

Russia and Saudi Arabia are participating in an agreement to reduce oil production, concluded in December 2016 for a period of six months from January 1, 2017. According to it, 11 OPEC countries and 11 independent exporting states should reduce the average daily production by 1.8 mln barrels. Saudi Arabia and Russia have the largest quotas in this deal - 486,000 and 300,000 barrels, respectively.

Russia participates in the oil output reduction deal, pledging to reduce production by 300,000 barrels per day starting from January 1, 2017, to the level of October 2016, or by 2.7%. In March, Russia reduced oil production by 202,300 barrels per day to 11.046 mln barrels, thus fulfilling 67% of the reduction quota. Russia will reach the full quota for reduction by the end of April, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said earlier.

In March, OPEC fulfilled 106% of the planned quota of 1.2 mln barrels.

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Foreign policy Syrian conflict

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