Last night Mr Kerry flew to Moscow to try to narrow gaps with Russian leaders over a political transition to end Syria’s Civil War and restore stability in eastern Ukraine.
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Kerry and the United Nations envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, want to hold the next round of Syrian peace talks on Friday in NY, but Moscow has so far refused to confirm the date. “There was some progress, even unexpected for most of us”.
But after a day of discussions with Assad’s key worldwide backer, Kerry said the focus now is “not on our differences about what can or cannot be done immediately about Assad”.
Kerry’s declarations crystallized the evolution in USA policy on Assad over the last several months, as the Islamic State group’s growing influence in the Middle East has taken priority.
The opposition groups said Assad should leave power at the start of a transitional period. “No one believed it”, he said.
The US and Russian Federation have long disagreed on what role Syrian President, Bashar Al-Assad should play in the process.
“No one should be forced to choose between a dictator and being plagued by terrorists”, Kerry said. “In determining spheres for joint with the United States activity, we continue to be guided exclusively by own interests, including the task of strengthening our own and worldwide security”. Mr Lavrov said the Islamic State (ISIS) issue was not limited to Syria, as the group was also active in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen.
Jordan is working on finalizing the list of terrorist vs. legitimate opposition forces.
The US Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in a bid to find “common ground” on the Syria crisis.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, speaking to Turkish reporters on the sidelines of a meeting on Libya in Rome, said Turkey would get the Turkish fishing ship’s side of the story before making an announcement on the issue, but added that Turkey doesn’t favor an escalation of tensions.
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.
That wasn’t the case on Tuesday.
Russia’s foreign ministry said late on Monday that Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had agreed in a phone call on the need for specific preconditions to be met before any new meeting, throwing its timing into doubt.
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Kerry is asking for Russia’s full implementation of a February cease-fire in exchange for sanctions relief.
