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Russian, U.S. top diplomats discuss Syrian settlement by phone

Xinhua, May 5, 2017 Adjust font size:

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson discussed the Syrian settlement during a phone conversation on Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

They exchanged views on the tasks of de-escalating tensions, giving stability to the ceasefire regime, increasing anti-terror efforts, and intensifying external assistance to the intra-Syrian negotiation process, said the statement.

Lavrov and Tillerson also touched upon regional and bilateral issues and agreed on further Russia-U.S. contacts.

Friday's conversation came three days after Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to intensify the dialogue between Lavrov and Tillerson on the search for options that help consolidate the truce among conflicting factions within Syria.

In a latest move toward a political settlement of the chronic civil war, Russia, Iran and Turkey signed a memorandum on Thursday in the Kazakh capital of Astana on the creation of four de-escalation zones in Syria.

Also on Friday, the Russian General Staff said that Russia has stopped operations of its military aircraft since May 1 in regions where the de-escalation zones will be officially established on Saturday. Endit