There is still no substantial agreement between Russian Federation and the United States on effective cooperation on Syria, US Department of Defense spokesperson Peter Cook said, Sputnik reports.
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The U.S. and Russian Federation said they made progress toward a new cease-fire in Syria’s civil war but had no breakthroughs after nine hours of talks in Geneva, underscoring the deep differences that remain in bringing a lasting settlement to the country’s bloody conflict.
While Russia and the USA have “narrow issues to resolve”, Kerry said the only way to end the conflict, which has raged on for more than five years and led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, was through political agreement.
During a press conference in Geneva where he met Lavrov, Kerry said that the only way forward for the Syrian people was to negotiate a political resolution to the conflict.
“We are ready, trucks are ready, and they can leave anytime we get that message”, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura on Thursday told reporters in Geneva, where negotiations on humanitarian aid delivery and a cessation of hostilities are under way.
He mentioned that at the time, both of them had announced that some significant technical details needed to be worked through, adding that the teams have spent the last few weeks working through those details in a productive manner.
“As we have all seen now, violations eventually became the norm rather than the exception”, Kerry said, discussing an original cease-fire reached in February.
Moscow maintains the attacks it has been involved in have targeted legitimate terrorist targets, while Washington says they have hit “moderate” US-backed militants.
Russian Federation has repeatedly called on the USA to separate its “moderate” fighters from the al Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra front.
Kerry was to meet with the United Nations envoy for Syria later Friday.
US, Russia achieve ´clarity´ on path to new Syria ceasefire: Kerry was posted in World of TheNews International – https://www.thenews.com.pk on August 27, 2016 and was last updated on August 27, 2016.
On Thursday, U.N. officials said Russian Federation was on board for the temporary pause in fighting in and around Aleppo.
As a possible sign of tightening cooperation, Moscow vowed Thursday to work with the United States on a response after a UN investigation found that the Syrian government had carried out at least two chemical attacks.
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“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.
