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Understanding reached at meeting of Russian, U.S. senior diplomats

"The consultations with Shannon were comprehensive and quite useful," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said

MOSCOW, May 9. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs of the United States Thomas Shannon have managed to reach understanding on topical bilateral issues at the consultations held in New York on Monday.

"The consultations with Shannon were comprehensive and quite useful. It would be an exaggeration to say that we moved ahead on all issues but we managed to reach more understanding on some bilateral issues than before," Ryabkov told TASS.

Meanwhile, Moscow is alarmed at the fact that Washington "carries on working out certain issues in its traditional manner, particularly, concerning Russia’s diplomatic property in the states of Maryland and New York," Deputy Minister said, meaning the shutdown of recreational compounds owned by the Russian government. The move came in end-2016 as Washington slapped new sanctions on Moscow over the alleged hacking into U.S. political institutions.

"We are very alarmed by this. We had a detailed talk on working conditions for consular and diplomatic staff in both countries. We agreed to enhance efforts to develop those issues in the future," Ryabkov said.

According to Deputy Minister, the consultations have enabled the sides to draw up the agenda of the upcoming meeting between top diplomats of the two countries - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson - expected on May 10 in Washington.

"The meeting has helped draw up certain issues more thoroughly and better, particularly for their further consideration at the level of Minister Lavrov and Secretary of State Tillerson. I assume that Syria will top the talks, which is why Mr. Shannon and I have done some work to ease the bilateral agenda for the ministers to some extent so that they get around to Syria and other international issues," Rybkov said.

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