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Lavrov, Tillerson agree to boost cooperation
February 17, 2017, 7:55 am

Lavrov said that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson did not mention the issue of sanctions [Xinhua]


Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met in Bonn, Germany Thursday on the sidelines of a G20 meeting and ahead of the 53rd Munich Security Conference.

The two top diplomats discussed how to ease tensions left over from the Obama administration, cooperation on security issues – such as the situation in Syria, and the crisis in the Ukraine.

Lavrov said, however, that they did not discuss US and EU sanctions on Russia for its alleged involvement in the Ukraine.

Tillerson, who met Lavrov for the first time, called on Russia to pull back from Crimea, reiterating an earlier position in Washington that Moscow must withdraw its forces from there.

Moscow said Crimea is sovereign territory.

“As we search for new common ground we expect Russia to honor its commitment to the Minsk agreements and work to de-escalate violence in Ukraine,” Tillerson told reporters after meeting with Lavrov.

The two diplomats agreed to continue consultations and cooperation on critical issues, such as Syria.

“We reiterated that we have common, coinciding interests, first of all, in what concerns resolute struggle against terrorism, in this context and in the context of political settlements and in what concerns cooperation on the Syrian crisis, on other countries of the region where terrorism has taken root,” Lavrov concluded.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies