The top diplomats of Russian Federation and the United States are meeting in Geneva to discuss the Syria civil war, the Ukraine crisis and other issues.
Advertisement
Lavrov made the comments at a joint press conference with US Secretary of State John Kerry following negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland.
“There are still issues that need to be ironed out”, a senior State Department official said as the talks began.
“I think there’s a shift in the balance of intellectual opinion in the administration, toward postponing “Assad must go” in the name of providing humanitarian assistance to save lives”, Kupchan said.
Kerry said the sides had “achieved clarity on the path forward” and that the vast majority of steps toward renewing a February ceasefire and humanitarian plan were completed during the talks.
The U.N. has been clamoring for a 48-hour cease-fire in beleaguered Aleppo so humanitarian aid can be shipped into the city.
The talks have been complicated since initial meetings in July by new government attacks on opposition groups, and a significant offensive in Aleppo led by opposition fighters intermingled with the Nusra Front, an al Qaeda affiliate.
He refused to take questions, but his comments appeared to refer to rebel groups supported by western and Gulf powers opposed to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose main external supporter is Russian Federation.
Staffan de Mistura, the U.N.’s Syria envoy, told reporters in Geneva earlier this week that Friday’s talks are important and could make progress toward getting back to political negotiations. But critical sticking points remain unresolved and experts will remain in Geneva with an eye toward finalizing those in the coming days, he said.
On the role of Kurdish forces in the conflict, Kerry said that the U.S. intends to continue working with them, but does not support the creation of an independent Kurdish state.
Kerry met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last month amid media speculation the two world powers were moving closer to increased intelligence sharing and military cooperation regarding Syria.
Successive rounds of worldwide negotiations have failed to end a conflict that has killed more than 290,000 people and forced millions from their homes in more than five years. After missing an initial target date of Aug. 1, de Mistura had hoped to restart the intra-Syrian discussions toward political transition in late August.
Advertisement
Moscow and Washington will boost their cooperation on resolving the Syrian crisis as they have managed to reduce their mutual mistrust on the conflict in the Arab country, says the Russian foreign minister.
