News Digest

The eyes have it: Kerry in Russia in attempt to narrow gap over Syria

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he wanted to use a visit to Moscow on Tuesday to make “real progress” in narrowing differences with Russian leader Vladimir Putin over how to end the conflict in Syria. 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 pencilled 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.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry

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. 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”.