MOSCOW, February 23. /TASS/. Russia will aspire to achieve progress in the settlement of Syria’s crisis in spite of the escalated global confrontation against Russia on any issue, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, opening talks with UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen on Wednesday.

"The importance of our cooperation is confirmed by the fact that we are meeting today and will aspire to achieve practical progress in the Syrian settlement. We won’t reduce our attention to this problem even though, as you know, now attempts are made to increase confrontation worldwide practically on every issue related to Russia’s activity," he said.

The Russian top diplomat noted that the Russian side gives a positive assessment of UN’s aspirations to establish contacts between political forces in Syria. "We are all interested in the swiftest settlement of the Syrian crisis based on the UN Security Council’s resolution," he emphasized.