US not giving up on talks with Russia over Syria - State Dept.

WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (KUNA) -- The US on Friday reiterated that talks with Russia regarding Syria were "on life support" but said it would not close the door to further discussions with Moscow over the matter.
With 48 hours having passed since the US first accused Russia and the Syrian regime of breaching the ceasefire and bombing civilians in eastern Aleppo, a State Department official said that talks would continue for the time being.
"They (US State Secretary John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov) did speak earlier today," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a press briefing. "Actually, when the Secretary was on route back from Israel." Talks are currently at a standstill, said Toner, and Washington has not yet seen Moscow "take the kind of actions that we're looking to see them take." US officials, however, "have not definitively closed that door," he stressed, expressing hope an agreement may be reached in "a matter of hours, in a matter of days." Toner went on to warn of "other options," many of which, he said, "are not very good." He did not elaborate any further.
"Before we definitively slam the door here, we want to make sure that we understand the stakes and that Russia understands the stakes, more importantly," he said. (end) sd.hb