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Russia, US experts, military to begin work on Syria in Geneva soon — source

Russia and the United States agreed on specific steps to make the work on Syria more effective during John Kerry's visit to Moscow on July 14-15

MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/. Russian and US experts and military will meet in Geneva, Switzerland in the coming days to discuss the Syrian issue, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told TASS on Wednesday.

"We proceed on the basis that the military and political experts will launch intensive work in Geneva in the coming days in furtherance of the US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Moscow," the source said.

John Kerry visited Moscow on July 14-15. During the visit, he was received by Russian President Vladimir Putin, held talks with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. It was stated on the ministerial meeting results that the sides agreed on specific steps to make the work on Syria more effective.

Marathon talks between Lavrov and Kerry ended in Moscow late on Friday, July 1. The talks at 10:00 am, Moscow time, lasted 13 hours in all. After eight hours of talks, the US delegation took a break for consultations, according to a source in the Russian foreign ministry. Later, Lavrov and Kerry met again in the Russian Foreign Ministry’s mansion. On Thursday (July 14), Kerry met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to The Washington Post, Kerry brought in Moscow a number of initiatives on the Syrian settlement. Thus, the United States may offer Russia to establish closer military coordination and even stage joint operations against the terrorist groups Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra. The US Department of State however refrained from comments.