|
 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 penciled
in for Friday in New York would go ahead.
Russia and the United States have not reached agreement over the
role of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in any political transition
or over which rebel groups should be part of talks.
"I look forward to making real progress," Kerry said at the start of
talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
"I think the world benefits when powerful nations with a long
history with each other have the ability to be able to find common
ground," he said.
Kerry, who will meet Putin later on Tuesday, told Lavrov: "Even when
there have been differences between us we have been able to work
effectively on specific issues."
Russia, one of Assad's staunchest allies, has launched a campaign of
air strikes that it said targeted Islamic State militants but which
also supported Assad's forces. The Kremlin says the Syrian people,
and not external powers, should decide Assad's political fate.
Lavrov told Kerry there was a need for more effective international
cooperation in fighting terror. "On that route there are still
questions which today we need to look at," Lavrov said in his
opening remarks.
The run-up to the Moscow talks underlined the distance between
Moscow and Washington on how to deal with the Syria crisis.
Speaking before Kerry's arrival, a State Department official said
Kerry would raise concerns about Russia's continued bombing of
Syrian opposition forces, including some backed by Washington and
its allies.
For its part, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement
complaining that Washington was not ready to fully cooperate in the
struggle against Islamic State militants and needed to rethink its
policy of "dividing terrorists into good and bad ones".
Kerry's visit follows a meeting last week in Riyadh which agreed to
unite a number of opposition groups, not including Islamic State, to
negotiate with Damascus in peace talks.
While Kerry said there were still "kinks" that needed to be worked
out, mainly to do with which groups should be included in the talks,
the Kremlin rejected the results of the Riyadh meeting, saying some
of the groups were considered terrorists.
[to top of second column] |
NO DEAL ON UKRAINE
"We don't have a full meeting of the minds yet (on Assad)," a senior
State Department official told reporters. "We will talk about some
of the details of a transition...in the hopes of narrowing the
differences between us."
Kerry's talks in Moscow will delve deeper into details of a planned
Jan. 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.
"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 said.
Russia has given mixed messages on the FSA. News agencies on Monday
quoted Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian army's general
staff, as saying his country was providing it with weapons,
ammunition and material support, while a top Kremlin aide later said
there was no such arrangement.
FSA rebels fighting Assad's forces in western Syria denied receiving
any support from the Russian air force, saying on the contrary it
continued to bomb them.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Kerry will encourage
continued efforts by Russia to de-escalate tensions with Turkey
after it shot down a Russian military plane near the Syria border on
Nov. 24.
Kerry will also underscore the importance of implementing the Minsk
peace accords on Ukraine and plans for free and fair elections in
eastern Ukraine.
(Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
