WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On October 3, the United States made public the decision to suspend its participation in bilateral channels with Russia that had been established to sustain the cessation of hostilities in Syria. Elizabeth Trudeau, a US State Department spokeswoman, said that Secretary of State John Kerry had informed Sergey Lavrov about the suspension of the joint diplomatic work on the Syrian settlement. Washington claims that Moscow is not fulfilling its obligations over sustaining a ceasefire agreement in Syria, which was reached by the two countries in September.
Russia said in response that Washington was trying to shift the blame for its inability to separate the moderate opposition from terrorists, primarily Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (formerly known as al-Nusra Front).
"Whether we can work together, my answer is — yes. Whether we can expand the areas we can work together, my answer is — yes," Kislyak said to an audience at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC on Tuesday.
Kislyak emphasized bilateral cooperation in the "nonproliferation of nuclear weapons… and sensitive nuclear materials," as well as work between US astronauts and Russian cosmonauts, which he described as "immune from to the ups and downs in Russian-American relations." The Arctic is also an area of "future cooperation" that Kislyak said could be "helpful."
