Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US State Secretary John Kerry will discuss the prospects of full anti-terrorist cooperation in Syria at their talks in Geneva on August 26, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Thursday.
"It is expected that the meeting will be focused on issues of Syrian settlement, including the prospects of establishing tight coordination of Russian and US actions in the fight against terrorist groups operating in Syria today," Maria Zakharova said.
The diplomats confirmed their meeting in phone talks held early Wednesday, Zakharova added.
The upcoming meeting was preceded by expert military-to-military consultations Tuesday on joint work to organize humanitarian pauses in Aleppo and ensure the safety of convoys traveling on Castello road, according to sources.
Olympics and Paraolympics
Zakharova praised Russian athletes for their performance and the spirit they displayed at the Rio Olympics and deplored the ban on the Russian paraolympic team. The CAS decision to uphold the ban on the Russian team is inhumane and breaches the rights of people with disabilities.
"It is the principle of collective responsibility for unproven crimes," Zakharova said.
The Russian side is deeply concerned about the violations of the rights of clean athletes, the spokeswoman said adding that the ban breaches human rights.
"The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is based on the principle of equality for persons with and without disabilities. In this regard, it has to be noted that unlike Olympians without disabilities, who were allowed to compete in the Rio Olympics at the decision of the arbitration court in Lausanne, Russian athletes representing people with disabilities were deprived of this opportunity in the context of the Paralympic Games," ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.
"What is this, if not a flagrant violation of the aforementioned fundamental principle of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities?" she added.
Italy Earthquake
Russia stands ready to help Italy to cope with the aftermath of the deadly quake and send rescuers, Zakharova reiterated.
"I would like to comment on the release of the third report of the joint UN-OPCW mechanism to investigate chemical weapons use in Syria. We welcome the release of this report… we can say this now, and of course this was not a revelation for us that Daesh militants have chemical weapons, they use them not only in Iraq, but also Syria."
She reminded that Moscow had warned about Daesh being in possession of chemical weapons numerous times.
On Wednesday, the United States called on Russia and Iran to join efforts to seek accountability for those responsible for using chemical weapons in Syria, after the United Nations released the results of a probe into chemical weapons attacks in Syria in 2014 and 2015 that implicated the Syrian government and the Daesh terrorist group.
Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with numerous opposition factions and Islamic extremist groups fighting the Syrian Army and other government forces loyal to President Bashar Assad.
In August 2013, a mission to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons was announced after a deadly gas attack that killed hundreds outside Damascus. On January 4, OPCW announced that all chemical weapons in Syria had been destroyed, however, in April reports emerged that radical militants could be using and producing chemical weapons in Syria.
Only actions coordinated with Damascus will help attain the common goal of settling the Syrian crisis, Zakharova said.
"There has been the experience of creating a no-fly zone in Libya in world practice, we all remember how it ended. We remember who initiated them, moreover they have been tested and approved by the UN Security Council. But the way this was implemented in practice, I believe it is difficult to talk about zones after that, about unilateral actions on their establishment, because we remember how the recent experience ended."
Discussions of enforcing a no-fly zone in Syria resurfaced this week after Turkey launched its Euphrates Shield mission with US-led coalition backing and the stated aim of clearing the border town of Jabulus from Daesh jihadists.
Damascus and Syrian Kurds accuse Ankara of violating Syrian sovereignty with the campaign involving 200 troops and mechanized units, as well as 150 special forces, and 13 F-16 fighters.
"As far as the talks which are scheduled for the 26th with participation of Russian Deputy Foreign Minister [Igor] Morgulov, we believe that they will be productive and constructive," Zakharova said.
The THAAD system is designed to intercept short, medium and intermediate ballistic missiles at the terminal incoming stage. The system's deployment to Seoul has caused concerns in North Korea, as well as China and Russia.
In response, the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) warned that North Korea is ready to launch a "preemptive nuclear strike" at the United States and the South at the slightest sign of provocation.
Crimea remains a tourist magnet for people from Russia, Ukraine and other countries, Zakharova said refuting a Reuters publication claiming that the tourist season in Crimea has been unsuccessful. More and more guests are visiting the peninsula, and even this fact easily disproves the Reuters story, she said.
Relations can be ruined very quickly but it takes time and incremental steps to restore them, spokeswoman Zakharova said.
On August 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who arrived in St. Petersburg for talks to reset bilateral relations which had been nearly severed by the downing of Russian Su-24 bomber over Syria by Ankara in November 2015.