Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry will attempt on Tuesday in Moscow to agree on a list of terrorist organizations, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
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After the talks, Lavrov and Kerry will have a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Kerry, who will meet Putin later on Tuesday, told Lavrov: ‘Even when there have been differences between us we have been able to work effectively on specific issues’. I think the world benefits when powerful nations with a history with each other have an ability to be able to find the common ground and today I hope we can find some common ground”. The results of Tuesday’s meetings will determine whether or not a new global diplomatic conference on Syria will go ahead as planned Friday at the United Nations. And on Ukraine, Lavrov said the USA should use its influence with the government in Kiev to settle the conflict with the separatists by respecting a shaky cease-fire and moving ahead with political reforms in eastern Ukraine.
Conflict-torn Syria, with the country’s government fighting a number of opposition factions and radical Islamist groups, including the Islamic State (IS, or Daesh in Arabic) and the Nusra Front, is expected to be the main point of the ministerial talks’ agenda.
“Later today we will tell President Putin what we have discussed and I hope that your visit will be fruitful”.
A statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry aired some of those grievances, saying that Moscow “will continue to seek a revision of the US administration policy based on dividing terrorists into a “bad” and “good” ones” and complaining that the USA was unwilling to engage in “full-fledged coordination” between the two powers’ militaries while both are conducting airstrikes in Syria. Mr Lavrov said the Islamic State (ISIS) issue was not limited to Syria, as the group was also active in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen. The U.S. and its European allies have imposed sanctions on Russian Federation for its continued support for separatists in the east.
The official said Kerry would also be inquiring about recent comments from Putin and Russian military officers suggesting that Moscow is supplying the Free Syrian Army, which is opposed to Assad, with air support and weapons.
The big topic of conversation will be the future of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The US wants Mr Assad to stand down but Russian Federation says only the Syrian people can decide his fate.
The opposition groups said Assad should leave power at the start of a transitional period.
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Kerry’s trip to Moscow is his second to Russian Federation this year.
