Kerry to address Turkey-Russia tensions with Putin

The US Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in a bid to find “common ground” on the Syria crisis.

“This will be something that Secretary Kerry will discuss with President Putin when he’s in Moscow tomorrow, again, the continuing need for the Russians to de-escalate their tensions with the Turks”, spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Russia to try and narrow gaps with Russian leaders over a political transition to end Syria’s civil war and restore stability in eastern Ukraine.

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”.

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.

It said Mr Kerry and Mr Lavrov had also confirmed the importance of respecting the principle of consensus at the meeting when it happened and of ensuring that all of the group’s members took part in the talks.

Kerry and the United Nations envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, want to hold the next round of Syrian peace talks on Friday in NY, but Moscow has so far refused to confirm the date.

The official said Kerry would also be inquiring about recent comments from Putin and Russian military officers suggesting that Moscow is supplying the Free Syrian Army, which is opposed to Assad, with air support and weapons.

Russian Federation also launched a campaign of airstrikes in Syria late September, which it claims targets only ISIS strongholds.

Appearing beside Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hailed what he described as a “big negotiating day”, saying the sides advanced efforts to define what a Syrian transition process might look like. The countries, he said, have “widely divergent perceptions of the conflict in Ukraine”. Since the first, President Barack Obama has seen Putin briefly twice at summits in Turkey and France. Russian Federation has consistently said Assad’s future is for the Syrian people to decide, while the US and many of its allies insist that he go, although they have softened their stance somewhat to allow Assad to play some kind of role in the transition. However, he described the Syrian opposition’s demand that Assad must leave as soon as peace talks begin as a “nonstarting position, obviously”. “Given the USA influence on Kiev, it would be a positive factor”.

Kerry is asking for Russia’s full implementation of a February cease-fire in exchange for sanctions relief.