US Awaiting Russian Response to Washington’s Syria Proposal

The United States has made a final proposal to Russia on cooperation on the Syria issue and is awaiting a response from Moscow in the coming days, The Washington Post reports.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The proposal, given while US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on the sidelines of the G20 summit, calls for a ceasefire throughout Syria, the grounding of the Syrian air force and a joint US-Russia aerial campaign against Islamic State (ISIL, also known as Daesh) and other terrorist targets, senior US administration officials told The Washington Post on Wednesday.

Putin and Obama met for bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Hangzhou on Monday. According to the Kremlin, the presidents discussed the crises in Syria and Ukraine.

US National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes said on Tuesday that the United States and Russia had identified the remaining gaps on the Syrian settlement.

Russia and the United States are working out an action plan to coordinate their efforts in the crisis-torn Syria. The sides are discussing actions aimed at conflict settlement, including strengthening of a ceasefire regime and anti-terror cooperation between Moscow and Washington.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry are expected to meet on Thursday and possibly Friday for the fourth time within two weeks to discuss Syrian conflict resolution.