Foreign Minister: We don’t know how the situation is going to develop.

:: Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday Russia did not know how the situation in Syria would evolve in terms of the country maintaining its territorial integrity, the Interfax news agency reported.

“We don’t know how the situation is going to develop on the question of whether it is possible to keep Syria as a single country,” the agency quoted Ryabkov as telling Germany’s Deutsche Welle broadcaster.

Putin invited

Earlier today, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that US President Donald Trump invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to the United States during a phone call, and said he would be glad to see Putin in the White House.

Lavrov added that Trump said he would be happy to make a reciprocal visit to Russia. He added that the US strikes on Syria did not cross Russia’s red lines, and that he is convinced that Putin and Trump will not allow armed confrontation between their countries.

The foreign minister added that Russia told the US which areas of Syria were red lines for Moscow before the US strikes happened.

White House national security adviser John Bolton told Russia’s ambassador on Thursday that better relations between the two countries required addressing US concerns on election meddling, a chemical attack in Britain, and the situations in Ukraine and Syria, the White House said.

It was the first meeting between Bolton, who started at the White House this month, and Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov, the administration said in a statement.