Russian, US FM to meet on Arctic Council sidelines

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet with his U.S. counterpart John Kerry on the sidelines of the upcoming conference of the Arctic Council, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Monday. "The Foreign Minister and U.S. Secretary of State eye a separate meeting in Kiruna, with agenda having been elaborated," Ryabkov told reporters. The Arctic Council conference is scheduled on Wednesday and Thursday in Kiruna, Sweden. Kerry was in Moscow for a two-day trip last week, meeting with Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ryabkov also said Moscow has not been interested in setting up another Russia-U.S. bilateral commission on the top level. "We need no heavy bureaucratic structures which have transformed themselves into large-scale conference-like sessions, where there were fewer discussions and solutions than needed," Ryabkov said. Moscow and Washington used to have a permanent bilateral commission under auspices of then U.S. Vice-President Albert Gore and late Russian Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin. The diplomat also said Russia and the United States have not made a decision yet over a 2+2 format of their cooperation, which calls for regular meetings of the both countries' foreign and defense ministers.