US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov shake hands as they pose for cameras ahead of a bilateral meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Manor House in Moscow on December 15, 2015.
Advertisement
Kerry’s last visit to Russian Federation took place on May 12 when Putin met the U.S. state secretary in his Sochi residence Bocharov Ruchei after Kerry’s talks with Lavrov. Russian Federation has consistently said Assad’s future is for the Syrian people to decide, while the US and many of its allies insist that he go, although they have softened their stance somewhat to allow Assad to play some kind of role in the transition.
One senior official traveling with Kerry said he would be exploring ways to bridge gaps on both the political transition and the cease-fire as well as making the point that Russia’s military operations in Syria need to focus on the Islamic State.
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. Since late September, it has been bombing terrorist and rebel targets in Syria as part of what the West says is an effort to prop up Assad’s government.
“Together the United States and Russian Federation have the ability to make a significant difference here”, Kerry told Putin as they began meeting at the Kremlin.
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.
During his opening remarks Tuesday, Lavrov reportedly acknowledged these “outstanding issues” over the political transition in the war-torn nation.
On Ukraine, the two countries are split over the implementation of a February agreement meant to end hostilities between the Kiev government and Russian-backed separatists in the east. Mr Lavrov said the Islamic State (ISIS) issue was not limited to Syria, as the group was also active in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen.
That wasn’t the case on Tuesday.
“We are aggrieved by and fully reject U.S. attempts to present such contacts in the context of the policy to contain and “isolate” Russian Federation”.
Advertisement
“Russia and the United States agree that this is a threat to everybody, to every country”, he said.
