While the USA and its allies are nearly exclusively targeting Daesh, Russia has attacked a wide range of groups opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including “moderate” groups supported by Turkey and the West.
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But in Tuesday’s talks, the two sides did not focus on their differences or what could or could not be done immediately about Assad but on the political process, Kerry said.
President Obama first called on Assad to leave power in the summer of 2011, with “Assad must go” being a consistent rallying cry.
However, in October, the administration indicated that it was open to allowing Assad to remain in power for several months as a political transition takes place in Syria, which has been embroiled in civil war for years.
Kerry also said he and Putin discussed an exchange of information on the location of antiterrorist operations in Syria. And opposition groups that met in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, last week demanded that Assad step down before negotiations start.
Noting that the United States does not pursue a policy of isolating Russia, Kerry reaffirmed the ability of the two countries to work effectively while moving in the same direction and concentrating efforts in the fight against terrorism.
Urging more action to fulfill Minsk accords and finally solve the crisis, Kerry said all parties to the conflict bear responsibility for the Minsk deal implementation.
Russian Federation and the USA are at odds over the mechanics of a political transition aimed at halting the war in Syria, as well as the military approach to fighting the Islamic State group.
Mr Kerry said Russian Federation and the United States agreed on the need to fight the ISIS militants, despite differences on the peace process and Mr Assad’s eventual fate. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Meshkov also said that Ankara should guarantee that such an incident will not happen in future, according to reports. He did not give details of the requests but said different countries’ contributions could include strike aircraft, intelligence flights, transport aircraft, help in controlling borders and helping United States efforts to train troops.
The two countries also have split on Ukraine since Russia’s annexation of the Crimea region previous year and its ongoing, though diminished, support for separatist rebels in Ukraine’s east. The U.S. has pressed economic sanctions against Russian Federation in response. At the very least, they hope Russian Federation will play a role in persuading him to send a representative to negotiations.
Moreover, Lavrov said conversation would continue on “how the United States can contribute to defusing the Ukraine crisis”.
Kerry’s visit follows a meeting last week in Saudi Arabia which agreed to unite a number of opposition groups, not including Islamic State group, to negotiate with Damascus in peace talks.
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The raids killed 16 civilians at a market for fuel in Idlib province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday.
