Russia urges U.S. to continue cooperation on Syria settlement

Russia sees no alternative to a diplomatic settlement of the Syrian crisis with the United States, despite the "emotional" statements from Washington, a senior Russian diplomat said Thursday.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Thursday reiterated Moscow's stance, while blaming Washington for failing to fulfill its obligations and commitments, which Moscow believed has caused the collapse of the Russia-U.S. brokered truce accord.

The United States on Wednesday threatened to suspend cooperation with Moscow if the Syrian government troops backed by Russia kept bombing the opposition.

"If the civil war in Syria continued, extremists could attack Russian interests, and perhaps even Russian cities," U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday.

Such statements were an "emotional breakdown" resulting from Washington's inability to keep its promise to separate the so-called moderate opposition from terrorist groups, said Ryabkov.

Moscow and Washington are now stuck in a major difference in the time for humanitarian pauses in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. Russia has offered a 48-hour pause, while the United States is in favor of introducing a week-long one, a longer cessation of fire that Russia believed would help terrorists to resupply and regroup.

On Sept. 10, Russia and the United States announced a landmark agreement of a nationwide cease-fire in Syria, which both sides hoped would lead to their countries' military cooperation to end more than five years of bloodshed there.

However, crossfire has resumed in the first hours after the week-long truce deal expired on Sept. 19, with both parties trading accusations of failures to implement the deal. Endi