The series of dust-ups is sure to be a topic of conversation on Tuesday when U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in Moscow for meetings with Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
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As the meeting with Mr Lavrov began, Mr Kerry said: “The world benefits when powerful nations can find common ground and I hope today we can find some common ground”.
The Kremlin called off a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a bilateral summit in Saint Petersburg Tuesday. These groups have been regularly targeted in the Russian aerial campaign that got underway in support of Assad on September 30, and have reiterated denials of receiving any help from Moscow. It says just the Syrian people and not his political destiny should be decided by external powers.
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.
Russian Federation would continue to urge Washington to rethink its policy of “dividing terrorists into good and bad ones”, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday, ahead of Kerry’s visit to Moscow, which is scheduled for December 15.
The United States and Saudi Arabia backed Assad himself appeared to throw doubt on the very idea of peace talks last Friday, saying he wouldn’t negotiate with armed groups that he said. Syrian opposition groups, however, demand that Assad leave at the start of the process.
Russia, the United States, European and Middle Eastern countries agreed in Vienna last month on a two-year timeline leading to Syrian elections, but left many questions unresolved, most notably the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“We’ll be interested to hear what the Russians have in mind there, given the Free Syrian Army’s concern about how Assad has been treating his own people”, the official added.
With videos, satellite photos and documents, Russian Federation denounced before more than 100 journalists and military attaches the complicity of Turkey in the oil smuggling with the ISIL and other terrorist groups, as well as its logistical support and arms supplies to these forces. “That’s a glimmer of optimism in that situation”.
There are some doubts whether it will go ahead but the USA state department denied claims from Russian Federation “preconditions” would have to be met for the meeting to take place.
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The official also rejected suggestions that the US might be willing to ease off on Ukraine if Russian Federation alters its positions on Syria.
