MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has offered a rhymed reply, when asked about frequent telephone conversations between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (there have been 25 such contacts this year alone). In a four-line stanza - an unmistakable allusion to My Heart’s in the Highlands, by Robert Burns - Zakharova ventured to suppose that "John’s heart is in Moscow".

 

"His heart is in Moscow. His heart is not there.

His heart is in Moscow, chasing a bear.

Chasing not grizzly, but kremlinese.

His heart is in Moscow wherever John is," she recited.

 

As she continued in a more serious vein, Zakharova said that the frequency of contacts between Lavrov and Kerry stemmed from the global issues on the international agenda, which, "as we all have been able to see, can be resolved exclusively on the condition Russia takes part."

"Despite any exclusiveness, any global scope of one’s own vision of the world they don’t admit of unilateral solutions," Zakharova said. "Certainly, this applies to Syria, the situation in the region (of the Middle East), and the issue of struggle against international terrorism. This applies to practically all global issues our leaders discuss."