Syria's President Bashar al-Assad (R) meets Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov in Damascus in this June 28, 2014, picture released by Syria's national news agency SANA. REUTERS/SANA/Handout via Reuters

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow’s position that the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should not be discussed at the moment has found understanding in Washington, the Interfax news agency on Friday quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying.

“To a large extent, the current political process became possible because in the long run Moscow found understanding in Washington of our basic thesis that deciding the issue of the future of Syria’s president should not be on the agenda at this stage,” the agency quoted Ryabkov as saying.

Ryabkov was commenting on the results of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Moscow on Thursday.