Kerry, Lavrov meet with Syria on agenda

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.

“Minister Lavrov has just informed me in detail about your proposals and several matters that require further discussion”, Putin told Kerry at the beginning of their meeting in Moscow, according to state news agency TASS.

Russian Federation says its airstrikes since late September have targeted the Islamic State, but Western governments claim mostly moderate rebels are being hit and that Moscow is primarily concerned with shoring up Syrian President Bashar Assad.

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”.

Kerry will seek to prepare the ground for a third round of talks of world powers on Syria amid doubts over whether a meeting pencilled in for Friday in NY will go ahead.

“We don’t have a full meeting of the minds yet (on Assad)”, a senior State Department official told reporters.

The U.S. has been pressing its European allies to continue applying sanctions on Russian Federation because of its annexation a year ago of Crimea and its support for the separatists.

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.

At the opening of the meeting, Kerry said Moscow and Washington agree that the Islamic State insurgent group in Syria and Iraq “is a threat to everybody, to every country”. Kerry, who is seeking to lay the groundwork for a fresh round of talks over a political transition in Syria, will also meet Russian President Vladimir Putin later Tuesday.

“I look forward to making real progress”, Kerry stated at 1st of talks.

Assad’s future and his potential role in the political transition will be prime topics of Kerry’s conversations with Putin and Lavrov.

“We are not playing “Let’s Make a Deal” here”, the official said.

The United States and Moscow are are at odds over a political transition to halt the war in Syria, as well as the military approach to fighting the Islamic State.

Russian Federation has given mixed messages on the FSA.

Ryabkov said the establishment of a definitive list of terror groups was essential if progress is to be made in accordance with Vienna talks that are wider than the US-led coalition on Syria.

Kerry, during his meetings, will also underscore the importance of implementing the Minsk peace accords on Ukraine and plans for free and fair elections in eastern Ukraine.