MOSCOW, September 15./TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov gave detailed explanations regarding the situation around the case of Russian blogger Alexey Navalny in a phone call with Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio, and besides, the two diplomats discussed the initiative of a constitutional reform in Belarus, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.
"At the request of the Italian minister, he received detailed explanations in connection with the situation around the Navalny case," it said. "It was emphasized that in order to establish the truth, it is necessary that German specialists pass to Russia biomaterials, an official report on the results of Navalny’s tests, as well as establish professional cooperation with Russian medics," the ministry said.
Luigi Di Maio also wanted to learn from the Russian counterpart assessment of the situation in Belarus. The Russian foreign minister drew his attention to the September 14 talks of the Russian and Belarusian presidents, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko.
"They stressed the need to avoid any attempts to hinder the Belarusian society from regulating their domestic policy processes by themselves, noting the prospects of the initiative on holding a constitutional reform in the interest of promoting national dialogue and accord," the ministry said.
The top diplomats also discussed in detail the agenda of bilateral cooperation and the schedule of upcoming contacts. They "confirmed mutual bid to continue progressive development of the Russian-Italian dialogue and to pool efforts towards giving a boost to interaction in economy, culture and on other tracks," the Foreign Ministry added.
Discussing Libya, they put an emphasis on the importance of further coordination of Russian and Italian efforts along that trajectory, along with other regional and non-regional forces with an aim "to contribute to the establishment of a stable ceasefire and the launch of intra-Libyan negotiations within the framework of the mechanisms created in the decisions of the Berlin conference and approved in resolution 2510 of the UN Security Council," the ministry went on.
The top diplomats agreed to use the possibilities for coordinating efforts to assist in the release of nationals of two countries detained in Libya under different circumstances, it said.
The phone call was initiated by the Italian side.