Russian lawmakers are ready to travel to the United States for talks with their counterparts over Syria as soon as Washington indicates its readiness to accept the delegation, a senior parliamentarian said Thursday.

"According to information from Russia's Embassy in the United States, Senate's Majority leader Harry Reid paid thorough attention to the Federation Council's address. The senator expressed his readiness to facilitate the Russia-U.S. parliamentary consultations," Ilyas Umakhanov, deputy head of Russian parliament's upper house, or Federation Council, said in an online statement.

Ukhmanov said Russian lawmakers might depart to U.S. as early as Sunday. "We are only waiting for an official confirmation from the U.S. side."

On Monday, Russian Federation Council chief Valentina Matviyenko said Moscow and Washington could hold a dialogue on the Syrian crisis.

"I believe we can maintain a dialogue with our partners from the Congress, exchange opinions and arguments for a better understanding of each other," Matviyenko wrote in her letter to Reid.

Meanwhile, John Boehner, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, on Wednesday turned down Russian embassy's proposal to meet with the Russian lawmakers to discuss the situation around Syria.

Washington and Moscow have been publicly at odds over the conflict in Syria. The U.S. government has ratcheted up its lobbying campaign for a punitive strike against Syria, while Russia insisted that the U.S. proof of chemical weapons use in Syria were far from convincing and could not justify military action on Syria.?

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