The United States and Russian Federation need to find “common ground” to end Syria’s civil war and restore stability in eastern Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday.
Advertisement
It said Mr Kerry and Mr Lavrov had also confirmed the importance of respecting the principle of consensus at the meeting when it happened and of ensuring that all of the group’s members took part in the talks.
Ryabkov said the establishment of a definitive list of terror groups was essential if progress is to be made in accordance with Vienna talks that are wider than the US-led coalition on Syria.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, left, speaks with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015.
Worldwide negotiators have been planning to meet to discuss the Syrian peace process in NY on December 18.
Kerry’s talks with Putin will also delve deeper into details of a planned January 1 ceasefire in Syria, as well as Monday’s comments by Russia on supporting the Free Syrian Army (FSA), which has been fighting Russian- and Iranian-backed government forces.
Kerry told Lavrov: “Even when there have been differences between us we have been able to work effectively on specific issues”.
Kerry is seeking to prepare the ground for a third round of talks of world powers on Syria but it was not clear if a meeting pencilled in for Friday in NY would go ahead.
The objective of Kerry’s visit will be to address differences with Russian leaders regarding Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s role in any political transition in the region. If a political transition is agreed to, the United States wants him gone.
A statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry aired some of those grievances, saying that Moscow “will continue to seek a revision of the USA administration policy based on dividing terrorists into a “bad” and “good” ones” and complaining that the US was unwilling to engage in “full-fledged coordination” between the two powers’ militaries while both are conducting airstrikes in Syria. And, on Ukraine, Lavrov said the US should use its influence with the government in Kiev to settle the conflict with Russian-backed separatists by respecting a shaky cease-fire and moving ahead with political reforms in the east of the country. “They attack culture and history and all decency”.
Russian Federation says its airstrikes since late September have targeted the Islamic State group, but Western governments claim Moscow is bombing mostly moderate Syrian rebels and is primarily concerned with shoring up Assad.
Advertisement
“We have no option left but to fight them”, Kerry said.
