TEHRAN, Feb. 19 (MNA) – US must stop playing with fire in Syria, Russia's Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the opening ceremony for the conference of the Valdai Discussion Club dubbed "Russia in the Middle East: Playing on All Fields."

"I once again call on our American colleagues not to play with fire and measure their steps proceeding not from immediate needs of today’s political environment, but rather from long-term interests of the Syrian people and of all peoples of this region, including the Kurds, of course," the Russian top diplomat was quoted as saying by TASS News Agency.

The Valdai Discussion Club kicked off today in the presence of Iranian foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

MNA/TASS