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Shortly after Kerry spoke, the Pentagon announced that Defense Secretary Ash Carter had spoken by telephone with Sergei K. Shoigu, the Russian minister of defense.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Friday that he was ready to talk with the Russians about the ongoing civil war in Syria, and Moscow’s continuing presence there.

“The secretary and the minister talked about areas where the United States and Russia´s perspectives overlap and areas of divergence”, he said.

“The secretary and the minister talked about areas where the United States and Russia’s perspectives overlap and areas of divergence”, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.

The White House said it would use the talks to urge Russian Federation to focus its actions in Syria on countering the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.

U.S. military officials appear to be preparing to scale back a high-profile programme to train and arm thousands of rebels to fight the Islamic State group in Syria following a top general’s embarrassing admission that the $500mn scheme had produced just “four or...

The West has raised concern over signs of an ongoing Russian military buildup in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia, which Washington says signals Moscow’s intention to set up a forward air base there.

United States officials said in recent days that they are seeking answers to myriad questions about the precise reasoning behind Moscow’s recent deliveries of material and manpower to a base in northern Syria.

Washington, which has seen Assad as the cause of the Syrian crisis, has been concerned by an ongoing Russian military buildup in Syria and warned Moscow that it could further destabilize the situation.

Lavrov proposed a “military-to-military conversation and meeting in order to discuss the issue of precisely what will be done to deconflict with respect to any potential risks that might be run and have a complete and clear understanding as to the road ahead and what the...

Nevertheless, Russian officials have played down the deliveries of military hardware to Syria, the newspaper added.

Asked Wednesday if Russia plans to create a base in Syria, Gen. Nikolai Bogdanovsky, a deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian military, said, according to Russian news agencies, that “there are no such plans as of today, but anything may happen”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Moscow will continue supporting the Syrian government with military and technical aid in its fight against terrorists such as the Islamic State.

And yet, US officials categorically reject such a scenario. “Not even any third party including the Iraqis”, he said.

Russian Federation continues to send military equipment to Syria despite complaints from the USA, which is anxious about escalating the conflict between government forces and rebel groups hoping to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad.