Russian, Egyptian top diplomats focus on cooperation in Syria settlement - Russia's foreign ministry

MOSCOW, March 8. /TASS/. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a telephone talk with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry on Tuesday, discussing practical issues of cooperation in the context of the current regional agenda and accentuating on the Syria crisis, an official at the Russian foreign ministry said after the phone conversation. "Following the phone conversation between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on March 7, (the top diplomats) have discussed practical issues of Moscow’s cooperation with Cairo, including in multilateral formats, on pressing issues on the regional agenda, with an accent on the developments in Syria," the official said. "Both sides noted with satisfaction sustainable implementation of the agreements embodied in the UN Security Council's resolution to end fighting, to improve the humanitarian situation and to launch as soon as possible the intra-Syrian dialogue between the government of the Arab Republic of Syria and the opposition under the UN auspices in Geneva," the ministry said. The foreign ministry pointed out that the two foreign ministers "have underlined the necessity not to delay the start of the talks and also to ensure participation of the whole spectrum of opposition forces in them." Along with that, Lavrov and Shoukry exchanged their points of view on how to help resolve the Libya crisis and Yemen conflict. Read more