The US Secretary of State is meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister in Moscow on Tuesday morning.
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“[On Tuesday] the president will meet with [US] State Secretary Kerry and [Russian] Foreign Minister Lavrov who will inform the Russian president about the talks that will have taken place by then”, Peskov said, TASS reports.
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.
After the talks, Lavrov and Kerry will have a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia has given mixed messages on the FSA with news agencies on Monday quoting Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian army’s general staff, as saying his country was providing it with weapons, ammunition and material support, and a top Kremlin aide later saying there was no such arrangement.
On 13 December, Russia said one of its warships fired warning shots at a Turkish fishing boat in the Aegean Sea to avoid a collision, claiming that the Turkish vessel approached to 600m (1,800ft) before turning away in response to Russian small arms fire. “We have the proof in our hands”, Mr Erdogan said – but no more was forthcoming on this from Ankara.
If a political transition is agreed to, the United States wants him gone.
However, ahead of his arrival, Russia’s foreign ministry said Moscow would be looking for a “revision” in US policy “dividing terrorists into “bad” and “good” ones”. Syrian opposition groups, however, demand that Assad leave at the start of the process.
America’s regional allies, led by Saudi Arabia, are even more emphatic in declaring that Assad must go, demanding he step down as soon as peace talks begin.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the terror group is expanding its influence and now controls 70 percent of Syria, contradicting the recent comments by U.S. President Barack Obama that ISIL had been “contained”.
Russian Federation also launched a campaign of airstrikes in Syria late September, which it claims targets only ISIS strongholds.
The violence saw over 220,000 people killed, 7.6 million internally displaced and 4 million fleeing the country, according to United Nations estimates.
He also criticized Russia’s military intervention in Syria, saying it was aimed at propping up the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, not combating Islamic State.
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On the ground in Syria, a military source said government troops recaptured a military airport and town east of Damascus, more than three years after they were overrun by rebel groups.
