LONDON, May 26. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister David Cameron had a telephone conversation on Monday, in the course of which they agreed to resume dialogue on settling the conflict in Syria, the Downing Street press service said.
"President Putin called the Prime Minister this afternoon to congratulate the PM on his ‘major success’ in the election," a spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office said. "During the 30 minute phone call, the 2 leaders focused on 2 key issues: Syria and Ukraine."
As regards Syria, both leaders agreed that it is in the interest of both the UK and Russia to help find a solution to the civil war in Syria and particularly to stop the rise of ISIL.
"They agreed that their national security advisers should meet to restart talks on the Syrian conflict," the spokesman said.
Cameron reiterated his belief that President Assad could not be part of the solution in Syria. "And they agreed that both countries should continue talks with the moderate Syrian opposition as part of this effort," he said.
With regard to Ukraine, "Cameron said that they would continue to have deep differences but that the priority now must be to deliver full implementation of the Minsk agreement".
"The Prime Minister emphasized the need for the trilateral contact group to continue to meet and to work through the outstanding issues," the spokesman indicated.
"The Prime Minister concluded the call by noting that the UK and Russia had worked successfully together on the Iranian nuclear issue and he hoped that in the years ahead, we could find other issues where the UK and Russia could work together on matters of mutual interest," the spokesman said.