UN, September 20. /TASS/. The Russian and US military are coordinating the implementation of plans to retake Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, so that the common goals of anti-terrorism struggle were not affected, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday after talks with his US counterpart Rex Tillerson.

"Contacts between the military continue in order to prevent conflicts while implementing the plans to retake Raqqa, on one hand, and retake Deir ez-Zor, on the other," he said. "The military continue to coordinate the steps needed to prevent any negative impact on goals of fighting terrorism."

He added that Syria was the main focus of his meeting with Tillerson.

"As for the rest, Rex Tillerson and I discussed our contacts on Syria today," Lavrov said.

"We, naturally, confirmed our approach that although we have to accept the reality of the US-led coalition’s presence in Syria, it is still an unwelcomed guest there," he said. "We understand that this is a reality, we understand that it can be used for the fight against terrorism simultaneously with the Syrian government’s action with the support of the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces, which was officially requested by the legitimate government.".