Pentagon says still no agreement with Russian Federation on cooperation on Syria

The US and Russian Federation say they have been unable once again to forge a comprehensive agreement on increasing cooperation to end the conflict in Syria that has killed hundreds of thousands of people. However, disagreement lingers over which groups are legitimate targets.

Kerry said that both countries have arrived at some clarity on the path forward. His Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov said the talks had managed to lower the level of mistrust.

“Now we may have different views about some of the causes for the problems, but the fact is we both are committed, I am convinced, to trying to find a way to get the cessation of hostilities to be more effective, to be fully implemented”, John Kerry said.

Friday’s meeting came a month after the two top diplomats met in Moscow and agreed on a number of unspecified actions to resuscitate a truce that would pave the way for peace talks.

After 12 hours of negotiations, in which United Nations special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura began to participate yesterday, Lavrov and Kerry announced that to reach the agreement, it was just necessary to determine very few issues.

Kerry also stressed the importance of keeping the details secret.

“Until we have, neither of us are prepared to make an announcement that is predicated for failure. If the remaining details can be completed, we believe we will be able to address the two primary challenges to the cessation of hostilities: one, the regime violations, including the aerial bombardment of densely populated areas; and two, the increasing influence of the al-Nusrah Front”, he said. While Russia is providing military support to the government of embattled President Bashar al-Assad, the USA is supporting rebel groups seeking to bring Assad down.