MOSCOW, March 25 (KUNA) -- Moscow and Washington have finally managed to reach real coordination in their anti-terrorist efforts in Syria, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday.
Both countries have finally managed to make progress from a mere agreement not to down each other over Syria to a real and efficient coordination of actions to exterminate the so-called Islamic State (IS) and Jabhat Al-Nustra, Lavrov told a news conference with visiting Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni.
He pointed to a possibility that the Syrian troops, supported by Russia's air force, would recapture the city of Tamur soon.
Meanwhile, the Russian chief diplomat said that Moscow will be ready to resume counterterrorism cooperation with NATO if the organization takes such a decision.
Lavrov said that Russia had not discussed sanctions against the country during recent talks with his counterparts from the US, Germany and Italy.
The Western states that have imposed the sanctions, are the ones to find a solution to the problem that caused harm to all parties.
Referring to developments in Libya, Lavrov warned against procrastination in handling the conflict there, warning that IS could settle roots there as it did in Iraq Syria and Iraq. He urged the NATO to deal with the issue in line with the international legitimacy.
For his part, the Italian Foreign Minister expressed relief that the ceasefire is holding in Syria for more than a month, lauding the Russia-US cooperation to monitor the situation.
Gentiloni reiterated Italy is keen on continuing cooperation with Russia against terrorism.
On sanctions, he said that Rome is not willing to renew them simultaneously, without discussions within the European Union (EU). (end) as.msa