The United States and Russia looked Friday to expand cooperation on issues from Syria to missile defense, seeing common interests despite a sharp chill in ties.

The foreign ministers and defense ministers of the former Cold War foes went ahead with a meeting in Washington despite U.S. President Barack Obama's cancellation of a summit in Moscow.

The Kremlin denied Friday that President Vladimir Putin had discussed a deal with the visiting Saudi intelligence chief for Moscow to sell arms to Riyadh in exchange for changing its position on Syria.

Putin held talks with in Moscow with Saudi Arabia's influential intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan on July 31, in a meeting which was not announced in advance and has intrigued observers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold his first meeting with new Iranian President Hassan Rowhani on the sidelines of a regional summit in Kyrgyzstan next month, the Kremlin said Friday.

Russia has agreed to a proposal from Tehran for the meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit on September 13 in Bishkek, Putin's top foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said, quoted by Russian news agencies.

Russia has not delivered advanced S-300 missile systems ordered by Syria although several have been built and Damascus has paid a multi-million deposit, Vedomosti daily reported Friday, citing arms industry sources.

A batch of the systems was due to be sent to Syria this spring, according to the Russian arms export agency's contract with Damascus, but the systems are now apparently due for delivery no earlier than the summer of 2014, Vedomosti said.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon emphasized the need to find a political solution to the Syrian conflict when he met Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday, a U.N. spokesman said.

Russia, the United States and the United Nations have been attempting to set up a conference aimed at ending the brutal civil war, which has left more than 100,000 dead.

Moscow has rejected a Saudi proposal to abandon Syria's president in return for a huge arms deal and a pledge to boost Russian influence in the Arab world, diplomats told Agence France Presse.

On July 31, President Vladimir Putin, a strong backer of Syrian leader Bashar Assad, met Saudi Arabia's influential intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan, after which both Moscow and Riyadh kept a lid on the substance of the talks.

Georgia on Thursday marked the fifth anniversary of the 2008 war with Russia over Georgia's separatist territory of South Ossetia, with both sides still blaming each other for the costly conflict.

The government is holding a series of sombre events to commemorate the occasion, including a wreath-laying ceremony in Tbilisi at a cemetery for servicemen killed in the fighting and a military parade in the town of Gori -- which was bombed and briefly occupied by Russian forces.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for a "working dinner" expected to touch on the conflict in Syria, the U.N. announced Wednesday.

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said the two will dine together on Thursday and "one could anticipate discussions on the main topics of the day and Syria is plainly one."

U.S. President Barack Obama has decided to put off a Moscow summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin, the White House said Wednesday, citing a lack of progress in relations and 'disappointment' over the Edward Snowden affair.

Obama talked about the souring relationship with Moscow in a talk show interview late Tuesday, accusing the Russians of slipping back "into a Cold War mentality."

The 2008 war between Georgia and Russia over the separatist region of South Ossetia may have only lasted five days but five years on, Amiran Gugutishvili is still counting the cost.

Snaking through the burnt-out shell of what was once his cousin's house are four-foot (1.2-meter) high coils of razor wire that divide the Russian-backed breakaway territory from Georgian-controlled land.