Moscow, Riyadh look for way of countering IS

Russia and Saudi Arabia have outlined a plan to jointly combat the Islamic State (IS) but still differed over the issue of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday.

"We share an opinion that there is a necessity to consolidate efforts in the fight against the common threat posed by the IS and other terrorist organizations. This is a real threat for Russia, Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region and beyond," Lavrov said after talks with his Saudi counterpart Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir in Moscow.

Lavrov said Russian President Vladimir Putin had proposed in June to establish an international framework to create a coalition fighting regional terrorism, while stressing that it would not be a "classical" military coalition.

Lavrov also noted that Moscow and Riyadh still differed over the issue of Syria's Assad.

"I would not want any of the influential countries involved in the solution to the Syrian crisis to believe that the issue of Assad can be resolved militarily. The only way of such a military solution is the seizure of power by Islamic State and other terrorists, which I think nobody wants," he said. Endi