UN Syria Envoy Planning to Meet Lavrov, Kerry in Geneva August 26-27

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura is planning to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US State Secretary John Kerry who may meet for talks in Geneva on August 26-27, a diplomatic source told Sputnik.

GENEVA (Sputnik) — On Thursday, media reports, citing unnamed US officials, suggested that Kerry and Lavrov would meet in Geneva on August 26 to discuss the Syrian settlement. This information was confirmed by neither Moscow nor Washington.

"The preparation has begun already. It is currently being planned that the visit will be two days long," the source said, giving an affirmative response when asked whether de Mistura was planning to meet the US and Russian officials.

According to the source, de Mistura’s office has special hopes for the meeting of Kerry and Lavrov.

"Such meetings usually give a very strong signal to all participants of the process," the source added.

A US-Russia-brokered ceasefire came into force across Syria on February 27. It does not apply to terrorist groups such as Daesh and al-Nusra Front, both outlawed in many countries, including Russia.

Both Washington and Moscow have been conducting military operations against terrorists in the war-torn country. The US-led international coalition of more than 60 members has been carrying out airstrikes against Daesh targets in Iraq and Syria since August and September 2014 respectively. Russia began its own operation in September 2015 at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad.