PRESS RELEASE

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Senior U.S., Russian Diplomats Meet in New York

May 9, 2017 (EIRNS)—In preparation for a May 10 meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov in New York yesterday.

"The consultations with Shannon were comprehensive and quite useful. It would be an exaggeration to say that we moved ahead on all issues, but we managed to reach more understanding on some bilateral issues than before,"

Ryabkov told TASS afterwards. Among the points of friction that Ryabkov was referring to, are the Russian government-owned diplomatic facilities that President Obama shut down before he left office.

"The meeting has helped draw up certain issues more thoroughly and better, particularly for their further consideration at the level of Minister Lavrov and Secretary of State Tillerson. I assume that Syria will top the talks, which is why Mr. Shannon and I have done some work to ease the bilateral agenda for the ministers to some extent so that they get around to Syria and other international issues,"

Ryabkov said.