Russian Federation and the US both agree that the Islamic State militant group based there and in Iraq has to be destroyed, but are in disagreement about what should happen to authoritarian Syrian President Bashar Assad.
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The United States and Russian Federation need to find “common ground” to end Syria’s civil war and restore stability in eastern Ukraine, US Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday. But the emphasis of both the nations is and should be on how to facilitate peace process in the troubled country so that the Syrians could make a valid decision for their future after getting out of the state of disturbance.
President Obama first demanded that Assad be removed from power in 2011. Kerry reiterated the USA position that Assad, accused by the West of massive human rights violations and chemical weapons attacks, wont be able to steer Syria out of more than four years of conflict.
But it was unclear what progress could be made in Moscow, with the US and Russian Federation remaining far apart on major issues, including Assad’s future as Syria’s leader and on which opposition groups should be considered terrorists.
“No one should be forced to choose between a dictator and being plagued by terrorists”, Kerry said Tuesday, referring to the rise of ISIS in Syria.
Kerry’s meeting with Putin follows a meeting last week in Riyadh, which agreed to unite a number of opposition groups, excluding ISIL, to negotiate with Damascus in Syrian peace talks.
“Russia and the United States jointly seek solutions to the most complicated crisis”, said Russian President and added that meeting of foreign ministers of Russia and America earlier today, Sergei Lavrov and John Kerry, was very constructive, reports Sputnik.
Associated: Kerry to Meet Russia, Others to Discuss “Tangible” Syria Answer “I look forward to making real progress”, Kerry stated.
“Well you know that together, we are looking for ways out of the most urgent crisis”.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday announced the formation of an anti-terrorism military alliance of Muslim countries.
Also at issue is a separate effort by Jordan to draw up a list of Syrian groups the parties agree are “terrorists” and will be barred from the ISSG talks in NY.
Vladimir Putin just demonstrated that all you have to do is push this president, or his surrogate, and as long as you have some force behind you, the USA will blink.
The two countries have split on Ukraine since Russia’s annexation of the Crimea region previous year and its ongoing, though diminished, support for separatist rebels in the east of the country.
He and Kerry said the NY negotiations would lead to a UN Security Council resolution to underpin the process aimed at brokering a ceasefire and political talks between Assad’s regime and Syria’s armed opposition.
There are some doubts whether the meeting will go ahead, but the U.S. state department denied claims from Russian Federation that “preconditions” would have to be met for it to take place.
And, he said, “We want Turkish forces to join in the air and on the ground as appropriate”.
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“The Russian military has been acting for some time as if there is a perceived threat from Turkey to them, which is an exaggerated situation and has nothing to do with reality”, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic told a press conference.
