Interfax: Russia-U.S. interaction on Syria improves confidence between them – Kremlin

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MOSCOW. Feb 24 (Interfax) – While Russia’s and the U.S.’ joint actions to advance the settlement of the Syria crisis are leading to a higher level of mutual confidence between Moscow and Washington, the main goal at the moment is to stop bloodshed in this country, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

“Undeniably, interaction to this or that extent is leading, so to speak, to a higher level of mutual confidence. At the same time, I’ll repeat, once again, that the main goal in this case is to stop bloodshed in Syria, and so lay the groundwork for approaching a political settlement,” Peskov told journalists on Wednesday, when asked whether Russia’s and the U.S.’ joint efforts on Syria might improve relations between Moscow and Washington.

“Despite all of the differences, the manifestation of some political and other will sometimes still enables Moscow and Washington to reach very important results, as it was, for instance, with chemical weapons in Syria,” Peskov said.

“There have been precedents of such interaction very recently, and most importantly, this interaction was productive,” he said.

Asked whether the Kremlin believes there has been some progress in settling the crisis in Syria after Russia and the U.S. reached the agreement, Peskov said, “Work is under way, and there has been very intensive contact, because the countries will now be using their influence on these or those forces, groups, and parties in this conflict.”

Peskov pointed out that Vladimir Putin had noted in his address, that Russia was determined “to work closely with Damascus, the legitimate Syrian authorities, but it expects that our American partners will go their part of the road, and use their influence on the groups they support.”

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