Lavrov: Arab Spring will top UK meeting agenda

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Arab Spring developments will top the agenda of the coming strategic dialogue meeting between Russia and Britain, schedualed to be held in London Wednesday. Both countries have no serious differences over the Syrian issue,Lavrov was quoted by a Russian foreign ministry statement Friday. "We both want Syria to be united, to be democratic; we both want the Syrian people to choose freely the way they would like to run their country, with full respect to the rights of all ethnic and confessional groups. And, of course, that has been the Russian position for 2 years since the crisis started. We have been in favor of immediate end of violence, and in favor of pushing the parties to the negotiating table. This was, by the way, supported by all major outside players at the Geneva meeting on June 30 last year. And we still are committed to this," he said. The Russian top diplomat described the coming meeting as "a very comfortable format as it allows the Foreign and Defense Ministers to discuss various situations in a comprehensive manner, from political,military, humanitarian, social perspectives. "The biggest international issue, I think, will be what is called the Arab Spring: Syria, but not only Syria, the rest of the region. It is very useful to take acomprehensive look at what is going on there," he added.