Lavrov, Kerry to Meet in Sweden This Week

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (archive)

© AFP 2013/ MLADEN ANTONOV

 

15:36 13/05/2013MOSCOW, May 13 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet on the sidelines of the two-day Arctic Council meeting due to begin in Sweden on Tuesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Monday.

"Following the talks held on May 8 in Moscow, the Foreign Minister and the US Secretary of State plan to hold a separate meeting in Kiruna,” Ryabkov said, adding that the agenda of the meeting is currently being drafted.
According to information obtained by RIA Novosti, the talks will focus on the Syrian civil war, as at the previous meeting held in Moscow on May 7. During those talks, Russia and the US agreed to hold an international conference aimed at facilitating a solution to the Syrian crisis through political dialogue between the Syrian government and opposition forces.
This week’s meeting in Sweden will be the fifth meeting between the top US and Russian diplomats this year, following talks in Berlin, London, Brussels and Moscow.
The Arctic Council intergovernmental forum, comprising Russia, the United States, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland, was established in 1996 to protect the nature of the Arctic region and its indigenous peoples. The council’s eighth meeting will be held in Sweden’s northernmost city of Kiruna on May 14-15.