Russia and the United States agree that ISIL, al-Qaeda and Jabhat al-Nusra are terrorist organisations and do not even discuss how to define Hezbollah and Hamas, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told Interfax news agency on Tuesday.

Gatilov said: “Our opinions coincide as regards to the main terrorist organisations. These are ISIS, al-Qaeda and Jabhat al-Nusra. These are the main ones, and there is a definite consent about them.”

“We are not even discussing Hezbollah and Hamas with the Americans,” he added.

Russian officials have repeatedly said that the two organisations will not be recognised as terrorist organisations by Moscow.

Gatilov expressed hope that a single list of terrorist organisations would be compiled before January 25 when Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Syria Staffan de Mistura plans to start the inter-Syrian dialogue.

“This is a task we are bound to solve. This has not happened so far, and the work in this field needs to be continued,” he said.

As of last week, there were 163 organisations on the list. Qatar and Turkey oppose the list.

(MEMO)