Lavrov discusses Syrian crisis with UN’s Guterres in phone call

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke by phone on Monday to point out that the solution of the crisis in Syria depended on the readiness of foreign actors to observe international law, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. “There was an exchange of opinion of issues on the UN agenda with a special emphasis on Syrian settlement problems,” the Foreign Ministry said. It added that the unanimity was expressed that “progress in settling crises directly depends on the readiness of UN member states to exert collective efforts on the basis of international law and the goals and principles of the UN Charter.” Lavrov and Guterres also discussed the outlook for raising the effectiveness of the UN, including its conflict prevention and peace-making efforts, TASS reported.