Russia and US to jointly investigate chemical weapons in Syria, says Lavrov

Russia and the United States have agreed to strengthen intelligence cooperation between the two countries to assist in verifying data on the use of chemical weapons in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday in Moscow.

"Today, we agreed on and it has been made official, including, at the meeting in the Kremlin with Russian President, that our intelligence services will work even more closely, in order to clearly understand the exact circumstances surrounding the claims that chemical weapons were used by either side of the conflict in Syria," he said.

Lavrov added that Russia no less concerned than the U.S. about the use of chemical weapons in Syria, but this topic is very complex and demanding.

"We need to be 100% sure that that we are not caught up in rumors, or in a conscious provocation," said the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry.