Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and Kerry to meet on Sept 8-9 on Syria talks

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his US counterpart John Kerry will meet on September 8-9 in Geneva to try to hammer out a deal on cooperation in Syria, Moscow said on Wednesday.

The two top diplomats agreed to a “personal meeting” after “working on the remaining details for an agreement” on fighting jihadists and pushing forward the peace process in the war-torn country in a phone call, a foreign ministry statement said.

Russia and the US, on opposite sides in the five-year conflict in Syria, have been trying to thrash out a deal in recent weeks to revive a ceasefire on the ground and coordinate strikes against the Islamic State group and other jihadists.

Presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama held talks Monday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China but failed to bridge their differences.

Russia is flying a bombing campaign in support of strongman leader Bashar al-Assad, while the United States backs rebels groups fighting to oust him from power.

Lavrov also slammed new US sanctions slapped on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine insisting that it hampered joint efforts by the two sides “including those aimed at resolving regional conflicts”, the statement said.