In Moscow, negotiations of Lavrov and Kerry started: the Secretary of State wished the colleague to "respect the elders"

In Moscow, negotiations of the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry began, Interfax reports. The Russian minister said at the meeting that he intends to discuss a number of important issues with the American colleague. Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry called Syria the main topic of the visit of the Secretary of State to the Russian capital. As it became known, Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with John Kerry following the results of his negotiations with Lavrov on Thursday evening.

"As we agreed, we will devote the main attention to the interaction in the international arena today, primarily in the Syrian settlement, but we will also discuss other problems: the situation in the region of the Middle East and north of Africa. We will exchange opinions on how the international community can contribute to the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis," said Lavrov, the words of which quoted RIA Novosti .

- At this time, opposite the US Embassy in Moscow, they organized a “NATO in blood” campaign

At the beginning of the conversation, Kerry wished Lavrov to “respect the elders” and show wisdom during the negotiations that began. According to Interfax, the Secretary of State congratulated the minister on the last 21 birthday on March 21 and said: "I hope that this date will give you additional wisdom in conducting these negotiations." “For 39 years, you look wonderful,” Kerry added in a joke, deliberately reducing Lavrov’s age, the words of which are citing Facebook by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.

“Thank you, John. But if the wisdom is measured by the number of birthdays, then I can’t keep up with you,” the 66 -year -old Lavrov joked in response, referring to Kerry for 72 years. The Secretary of State continued to exchange ironic remarks, noting that this is possible if the Russian minister "respects the elders." “Absolutely,” Lavrov agreed.

Going to a serious tone, Sergei Lavrov noted at the meeting that he was going to report to President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin about the results of negotiations with the US Secretary of State. According to the press secretary of the head of state Dmitry Peskov, Putin will meet with Kerry on Thursday evening, March 24, following the negotiations of the Secretary of State with the Russian Foreign Ministry. Sergey Lavrov will be present at the meeting. According to Peskov, the president’s working day today promises to end quite late.

The US Secretary of State, at a meeting with the Russian Minister, said that the fragile truce in Syria has reduced the level of violence in this country - according to some reports, by 85-90%, Reuters reports.

“A few weeks ago, few people believed that it would be possible to achieve progress in terms of termination of hostilities in Syria. We worked closely, including the international support group of Syria, we collaborated on resolving these issues. We cannot deny that the result of this work brought progress,” Kerry said. However, he drew attention to, I would like to see the continuation of this process and an increase in the influx of humanitarian assistance.

John Kerry arrived in Moscow on March 23 and plans to stay in the capital of the Russian Federation until March 25. The day before, the Secretary of State held a meeting with representatives of the Russian Civil Society, in which about 10 people took part. The conversation took place in the American center in Moscow.

The topics of the upcoming negotiations between Putin and Kerry were not reported in detail, but it is clear that we will talk about the most acute topics of the international agenda. In addition, as the day before, the State Department of the United States reported, the Secretary of State will definitely discuss the situation with the Ukrainian military personnel Nadezhda Savchenko, which the Russian courtsentenced the Russian court to 22 years on charges of killing Russian journalists in the Donbass. The West requires the liberation of Savchenko, in Kiev they are ready to exchange it for "GRU fighters" Evgeny Erofeev and Alexander Alexandrov.