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Russia remains open for cooperation with US on Syria in all formats — Lavrov

The Russian top diplomat says the cooperation depends on the US side

ISTANBUL, October 10./TASS/. Russia remains open for cooperation with the US on Syria in all formats, the matter depends on Americans, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

‘We have an open position for cooperation in all formats - in old and new ones. It’s up to Americans. And it’s Americans who must answer the question what has left (as to Russian-US cooperation on Syria), as we haven’t suspended anything," Lavrov said.

He reminded that earlier the US said contacts to prevent incidents in Syria were the only remaining.

Last Monday, the US announced it was suspending bilateral diplomatic cooperation with Russia aimed at a ceasefire and the development of military and intelligence cooperation in Syria.

Lavrov has refused to comment on a possibility of an international suit against Russia over the developments in Syrian Aleppo.

"I haven’t seen any suits, and I am not going to make wild guesses," Lavrov said in reply to the query about what could be the future of initiatives to sue Russia and Syria for Aleppo, mentioned by France. 

He said Russia had answered to all this at a session of the UN Security Council "where the French resolution didn’t get through, and then they axed our resolution aimed at supporting the initiatives of (UN envoy for Syria Staffan) de Mistura," he said.

"Everything was said there - where this crisis comes from, who created Islamic State (outlawed in Russia), and who created in due time Al-Qaeda, and then, now in Syria, is reviving its branches," Lavrov said.

Earlier, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told France Inter television that the events of the past few weeks around Aleppo should be qualified as war crimes and investigated by the International Criminal Court with punishing for the crimes France maintains have been committee by Syrian and Russian forces.