Moscow—Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Great Britain was obliged to coordinate with Damascus on its airstrikes on Islamic State targets within Syria.Mr. Lavrov said that a U.N. Security Council resolution on the fight against terrorism called on the international community to respect Syria’s sovereignty.Significant divisions remain between Russia and Western nations about the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his regime’s role in the fight against Islamic State.“I heard that David Cameron said that resolution 2249, which was accepted unanimously after the terrorist attacks in Paris, gives the right to the British to carry out these strikes on Syrian territory,” Interfax reported Mr. Lavrov as saying after a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.“The Security Council in that resolution calls on all those who are able to cooperate in the fight against Islamic State on the basis of international law... and coordinate their actions,” Interfax quoted Mr. Lavrov as saying.The meeting was the first between the Russian and Turkish foreign ministers since Turkish F-16s downed a Russian war plane last week that Ankara said had passed into Turkish airspace. Russia says the plane was hit above Syrian territory.The Russian foreign minister said he had heard nothing new from his counterpart on the incident, which has strained relations between Moscow and Ankara.Mr. Cavusoglu said after the meeting, “We cannot say that the ties have ruptured completely,” reiterating Turkey’s desire for a normalization of relations between the Black Sea neighbors. He added that Turkey had once again expressed its sadness over the jet incident and wished condolences for the killed pilot. “I’m sure that after the sentimentality has passed, common sense will win and our relationship will go back to its old days,” Mr. Cavusoglu said.
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