Moscow, May 14 (IANS/RIA Novosti): Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet on the sidelines of the two-day Arctic Council meeting due to begin in Sweden Tuesday.

"Following the talks held on May 8 in Moscow, the foreign minister and the US secretary of state plan to hold a separate meeting in Kiruna," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

Ryabkov said the agenda of the meeting was currently being drafted.

According to information obtained by RIA Novosti, the talks will focus on the Syrian civil war, as at the previous meeting held in Moscow May 7.

During those talks, Russia and the US agreed to hold an international conference aimed at facilitating a solution to the Syrian crisis through political dialogue between the Syrian government and opposition forces.

This week's meeting in Sweden will be the fifth meeting between the top US and Russian diplomats this year, following talks in Berlin, London, Brussels and Moscow.

The Arctic Council inter-governmental forum, comprising Russia, the US, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland, was established in 1996 to protect the nature of the Arctic region and its indigenous peoples.

The council's eighth meeting will be held in Sweden's northernmost city of Kiruna May 14-15.