Syria Should be in Constant Focus of Russian, US Attention – Lavrov

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, second left, in Moscow Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is in Russian Federation at the request of the White House, with ending the Syrian conflict and countering terrorism dominating the agenda. “Today, I hope we can find some common ground.” he said.

Briefing journalists before the meeting, Lavrov’s deputy Sergey Ryabkov said the main point for the discussion would be “agreeing a common list of terrorist organisations”.

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

Mr Kerry will try to prepare the ground for an worldwide meeting on Syria mooted for later this week. “Russia and Turkey certainly have to re-establish the relations of trust that we have always had, but our patience has a limit”, the Turkish foreign minister said.

Asked whether the NY meeting would happen, Kerry said: “I need to meet with the president (Putin)”.

Syrian opposition groups have demanded that Assad leave at the start of the process, which is supposed to begin in early January, once the opposition groups have settled on a delegation to negotiate with the government.

Ahead of the talks, 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”.

Germany’s defense minister has rebuffed a call from the United States for her country to make a greater contribution to the military effort to fight the Islamic State group.

Russian Federation says its airstrikes have targeted Isil, but Western governments claim mostly moderate rebels are being hit and that Moscow is primarily concerned with shoring up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Kremlin continued to encourage separatists in eastern Ukraine, contrary to commitments it had made in a February peace accord, and “that has isolated Russian Federation from the rest of the worldwide community”, he said.

Washington’s attempts to present high-profile talks between Lavrov and Kerry as containment of Russian Federation were met with a negative reaction in Moscow. “Given the USA influence on Kiev, it would be a positive factor”.