Talks with U.S. over Syria "fruitless": Russia

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday blasted the United States for "inefficient" cooperation over Syria, saying talks between the two countries have been "fruitless."

Moscow still maintained contacts with Washington, but every time the two sides meet for agreement, Washington backtracked, Lavrov told Russian 24 TV.

Meanwhile, the Russian diplomat gave credit to Russia's interaction with Turkey over Syria.

"This channel (with Turkey) may prove to be more efficient than our fruitless small talks with our American colleagues over many months," he said.

Moreover, Lavrov blamed the United States for contributing to the formation of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group. "It was the United States, which liberated the current IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from an Iraqi prison in 2006," he said.

The United States suspended talks with Russia over Syria in early October, followed by rising tensions between the two powers with each side accusing the other of violating commitments under a cease-fire deal aimed to facilitate a peaceful solution to the Syria crisis.

Since then, no concrete agreements have been reached between the two sides.

The latest effort, which brought together experts from both sides in Geneva on Saturday, ended again without any agreement. Endi