The US and Russian defense ministers spoke for the first time in a year.

The US and Russian defense ministers Ashton Carter and Sergei Shoigu spoke for the first time in the last year.

A statement from the Pentagon press service clarifies that the ministers discussed the situation in Syria and agreed to continue the dialogue on ways to resolve the armed conflict in the country and the fight against the radical Islamic State group.

The conversation lasted about 50 minutes and became the first direct contact of the heads of the two defense departments since August 2014. Then Shoigu spoke with Carter's predecessor, Chuck Hagel.

Relations between Russia and the United States in general, and their defense ministries in particular, have in recent years cooled dramatically against the background of the annexation of the Crimea and the armed conflict in the east of Ukraine, for which Washington considers Moscow to a large extent.

On Friday, US Secretary of State John Kerry and the White House press service said they were ready for negotiations with Russia on operations in Syria and the fight against the Islamic State, which is banned in a number of countries, including the UK.

Ранее Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem warned that Damascus, if necessary, may appeal to Moscow with a request to send troops. With such a statement, the Minister spoke on state television. He assured that today the Russian military does not take part in the hostilities in Syria.

A spokesman for the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, said that Russia would consider an appeal to Syria, if it arrived. “So far, all this is hypothetically difficult to talk about,” said Peskov.