US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov agreed on Tuesday to improve their relations, reach “quick solutions” in Syria and de-escalate tension in Idlib.
"I raised our concerns about the escalation of the situation around Idlib," Pompeo said.
The two men met Tuesday in the Black Sea city of Sochi in hopes of finding common grounds in strategic issues, including Iran and Syria.
The US official said he discussed with Lavrov the general situation in Syria.
"We both want to move forward on the political track to bring the suffering of the Syrian people to an end,” he said.
Despite the presence of several pending files between the two sides, Lavrov said that Washington and Moscow should put aside years of mistrust and find a way to work together constructively and to continue bilateral consultations on several issues, including the need to eliminate terrorism in Syria and support the full implementation of the UN Security Council resolution 2254.
"On Syria, we spoke about the need to fully implement resolution 2254, its key provision being respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria," he added.
The two officials had met last week in Finland at a meeting of the eight-member Arctic Council.
Lavrov said he agreed with Pompeo to continue consultations based on the existing contacts between the two sides.
“We checked our positions on a number of important aspects relating to the complete eradication of terrorism from the Syrian territories, providing conditions to resettle refugees, resolving humanitarian issues and launching political process in the framework of forming a constitutional committee. We believe that this institution will be able to start working in Geneva soon, under the auspices of the UN,” he remarked.
