Moscow denies Russia-US plan over Syrian crisis

The Foreign Ministry on Thursday denied it has made a joint plan with the United States to solve the Syrian crisis. Moscow strictly followed the Geneva agreements and was not coordinating with the U.S. to settle the crisis in Syria, ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said at a news conference. "There is no such plan and it has not been considered," Lukashevich told reporters. He said that Moscow only discussed with the UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, ways to implement the Geneva communique reached by world powers in June. Brahimi will visit Moscow on Saturday to hold talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Lukashevich said. "We are planning to discuss the entire range of issues related to political-diplomatic settlement in Syria, including Mr. Brahimi's recent efforts aimed at stopping violence and launching a comprehensive national dialogue between the government and the opposition in this country," the spokesman said. Commenting on reports that the Syrian government was using chemical weapons against the opposition, Lukashevich said such reports were aimed at provoking foreign intervention in the Syrian crisis. Meanwhile, Russia will continue efforts to contact not only the government but also the opposition, Lukashevich said, adding that the future of Syria should be decided by its own people. Also on Thursday, a visiting Syrian government delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad held brief talks with Russian officials in the morning. Both the delegation and the Russian Foreign Ministry made no comment after their meeting.