UN Chief to Visit Russia for Syria Talks

By The Moscow Times

May 14, 2013

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit Russia on May 16-19 for talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the Syria crisis, the ministry said.

"This will be his sixth visit to Russia, with the previous one paid in April of 2011," the ministry said in a statement.

Ban will meet with Lavrov on May 17 to discuss key international issues, including the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, and particularly the Syrian crisis and developments on the Korean peninsula, the ministry said.

The ministry also said it hoped Ban would discuss social and economic aspects of the United Nations activities and plans for organization's development after 2015.

According to Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky, Ban spoke by telephone with Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in separate calls last week, thanking them for their initiative to organize an international conference on Syria.

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