MOSCOW. May 30 (Interfax) - Russia would welcome U.S. consent to participate in the coordination of parameters of Syria de-escalation areas, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"There have been not just threats but also an actual armed incident in this area [southern Syria bordering Iraq]. I see this situation as rather alarming, because it directly affects the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic. Such matters definitely require coordination, and this is what our military have been doing," Lavrov said at a press briefing on Tuesday, following negotiations with Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama.
"The interaction is being maintained via a channel set up in the past to prevent unintentional incidents between the Russian Aerospace Forces and the U.S.-led coalition," he said.
"Of course, the entire process would be much more efficient if, in addition to using the channel, which has a rather limited agenda, the United States agreed to take part in coordinating the de-escalation areas' parameters, ," Lavrov said.
The parameters of the de-escalation areas are being coordinated, and the fruit of this work will be presented at the next meeting in the Astana format, which will take place 'pretty soon', Lavrov said.
"I repeat that we would welcome U.S. engagement not only in the incident prevention mechanism but also in the coordination of the said de-escalation areas' parameters," he said.