MOSCOW - Russian and US positions on Syria are getting closer, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday after several high-level contacts between Moscow and Washington this month over the conflict. 'Indeed, I think our positions with the United States are getting closer, first and foremost in regard to statements that there can be no alternative to a political solution in Syria,' Lavrov told a news conference. Lavrov criticized Washington for supporting some of the armed opposition groups fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad, saying Russia considered this approach 'short-sighted.'
