Published: July 30, 2018, 15:12 CET UTC +02:00
The Russian foreign minister and the German chancellor met recently in Berlin on July 24, 2018, for talks, a major part of which focused on the return of Syrian refugees. In recent months the environment in Syria has changed somewhat with Russia having reportedly reduced military operations in the area. According to the press statement on the website of the Russian foreign ministry, various other subjects were also discussed of interest between the two countries - such as aspects of the Minsk agreements - in addition to those of creating effective situations for return of Syrian refugees.
The following material is reprinted with permission of dpa-news.de (dpa-news.de, Tue, 2018-07-24):
Berlin (dpa) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Berlin on Tuesday with the situation in the Middle East, in particular the return of refugees to Syria, a key part of the talks.
The meeting was agreed to last week during a telephone call between Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin, a spokeswoman for the chancellor said.
In addition, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and Russia's top general Valery Gerasimov attended the Berlin talks, which also focused on the long-running conflict in Ukraine.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement the talks in Berlin discussed the "preparation of conditions for the return of refugees" to Syria, which has been in the grip of a bloody seven-year civil war.
Gerasimov and Lavrov were in Israel the day before for a previously unannounced meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during which they also discussed Syria, according to a separate statement.
Russia, the main military backer of the Syrian government has been winding down military operations in recent months while attempting to cultivate a peacemaker role in the Middle East.
By Katrina Wood with material reprinted from dpa news-de (2018-07-24)
sources: dpa news-de, The ministry of foreign affairs of the Russian Federation (mid.ru)