Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry stressed the need to continue efforts seeking to resolve the crisis in Syria through inter-Syrian dialogue.

This was in a phone call made between both sides on Tuesday, according to a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The statement said the two ministers exchanged during the telephone conversation their views about the situation in the Middle East focusing mainly on the situation in Syria.

Lavrov and Shoukry, the statement added, stressed the importance of pushing the active political and diplomatic efforts on the basis of reaching a national consensus to solve the crisis in a way that preserves Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a statement last week that Russia is ready to work with the Syrian leadership to carry out reforms in cooperation between the Syrian government and the “peaceful opposition”, stressing that the decision for Syria’s future is exclusively up to the Syrian people