US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have called for dialogue over the Qatar-GCC dispute. In a statement the Russian Foreign Ministry said the two leaders spoke on the phone and discussed the consequences of the decision by a number of Arab countries to break diplomatic ties with Qatar.
The statement said Lavrov and Tillerson pointed to the need of resolving disagreements through negotiations and expressed their willingness to contribute to such efforts. Speaking to reporters later, Lavrov said Russia was ready to try to do everything in its power to help resolve the Gulf crisis.
On Monday, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, along with Egypt and a group of smaller countries, severed relations with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism. Qatar has rejected the allegations as baseless.