American Secretary of State Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov will meet soon in Washington to discuss the situation in Syria and in East Ukraine.
“On Ukraine, the sides will discuss the need to stop the violence in eastern Ukraine and resolve the conflict through the full implementation of the Minsk agreements,” the department said in a statement.
“On Syria, the secretary intends to discuss efforts to de-escalate violence, provide humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people, and set the stage for a political settlement of the conflict,” reports CNN.
The meeting comes on the backdrop of a recent phone call between Russian President Putin and U.S. President Trump. This is the second meeting between the two top diplomats. The first discussions were blunt and led to a rather frank news conference in Moscow.
Violence has flared in East Ukraine and Russia is attempting to establish ‘safe zones’ in Syria where civilians can go to receive humanitarian aid and live in relative safety from the civil war.