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Lavrov-Kerry possible meeting in Rome not yet agreed — Russian diplomat

"I cannot tell you when, how and where the minister will have contacts with the secretary of state, as everything is in the process of coordination," Sergey Ryabkov said
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US State Secretary John Kerry Valery Sharifulin/TASS
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US State Secretary John Kerry
© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Monday he doesn’t confirm information about a possible meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry in Rome.

"No, I don’t confirm this information. Nothing has been finally agreed," he told journalists. "Now, I cannot tell you when, how and where the minister will have contacts with the secretary of state, as everything is in the process of coordination."

"Rome is one of the possibilities. The matter has not yet been settled," he added.

Russian foreign and defense ministries officials maintain regular contacts on Syria with US partners, Ryabkov noted. "Contacts between our defense and foreign ministries officials and their counterparts in the United States continue on a permanent basis. The situation has changed both in the course of these consultations and talks and directly on the ground," he told journalists.

"That is why I would call The Washington Post’s allegations (that the United States is trying to reach an agreement with Russia on lifting blockade off Aleppo in exchange for separation of terrorists from the opposition) as ‘the snows of yesteryear," he said.