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US suspends Syrian ceasefire talks with Russia

Scenes of devastation in al-Rai, a town in northern Syria. Credit: Reuters

The US has suspended talks with Russia of a Syrian ceasefire.

The US said that Russia had failed to live up to its commitments under the previous ceasefire agreement.

John Kirby, a spokesman for the US State Department, said it was not a decision which had been "taken lightly".

Russia hit back, arguing that the US had not fulfilled key aspects of the ceasefire deal it had brokered.

Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry said the US was trying to shift the blame of the breakdown in relations between the two countries onto Moscow, and that in recent days it had taken steps to try and sustain the deal.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said he "deeply regrets" the US's suspension of talks with Russia, but said the world body would "continue to push energetically for a political solution" to end the war.

"The U.N. will never abandon the Syrian people to a destiny of endless violent conflict," Mr de Mistura's office said in a statement.