ROME, December 15. /TASS/. Relations must be developing only on mutually equal basis, and attempts to exert pressure on Russia have no prospects whatsoever, Russian Foreign Ministry stated on Monday after the meeting of ministry’s head Sergey Lavrov with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Italy’s Rome.

“The necessity of the consecutive implementation of the Minsk agreements and the soonest meeting of the Contact Group was stressed in the context of the situation in the southeast of Ukraine,” the ministry wrote in its FaceBook account.

“During the discussions of bilateral relations, Lavrov stressed that the development of relations is possible only based on equality and mutual respect of interests, while attempts to exert any form of pressure on Russia have no prospects,” the ministry added.

The ministry also stated that the Russian foreign minister and his US counterpart focused on other international issues as well.

“A comprehensive exchange of opinions on key international issues took place, including the necessity of giving a new impetus to the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, Syrian conflict settlement as well as on the need to work out an all-embracing agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue,” the ministry stated.

The meeting between Lavrov and Kerry took place in the Italian capital of Rome and ended late on Sunday night.