US Secretary of State John Kerry said he wanted to use a visit to Moscow yesterday to make “real progress” in narrowing differences with Russian President Vladimir Putin over how to end the conflict in Syria.
Kerry is seeking to prepare the ground for a third round of talks between world powers on Syria but it was not clear if a meeting penciled in for Friday in New York would go ahead.
Russia and the US have not reached an 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 Minister of Foreign Affairs 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.”
Kerry was scheduled to meet Putin yesterday, told Lavrov: “Even when there have been differences between us we have been able to work effectively on specific issues.”
Russia, one of al-Assad’s staunchest allies, has launched a campaign of airstrikes that it said targeted Islamic State group militants but which also supported al-Assad’s forces.
Syrians and not external powers should decide al-Assad’s political fate, the Kremlin said.
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.
Speaking before Kerry’s arrival, a US Department of State official said Kerry would raise concerns about Russia’s continued bombing of Syrian opposition forces, including some backed by Washington and its allies.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement complaining that Washington was not ready to fully cooperate in the struggle against the Islamic State group and needed to rethink its policy of “dividing terrorists into good and bad ones.”
Kerry’s visit follows a meeting last week in Riyadh which agreed to unite a number of opposition groups, not including the Islamic State group, to negotiate with Damascus in peace talks.
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.
“We don’t have a full meeting of the minds yet [on al-Assad],” a senior state department official told reporters. “We will talk about some of the details of a transition... in the hopes of narrowing the differences between us.”
Kerry’s talks in Moscow are to delve deeper into the details of a planned Jan. 1 ceasefire in Syria, as well as Monday’s comments by Russia on supporting the Free Syrian Army, which has been fighting Russian and Iranian-backed government forces.
“We’ll be interested to hear what the Russians have in mind there, given the Free Syrian Army’s concern about how al-Assad has been treating his own people,” the official said.
Russia has given mixed messages on the Free Syrian Army.
News agencies on Monday quoted Chief of the Russian General Staff General Valery Gerasimov as saying his country was providing it with weapons, ammunition and material support, while a top Kremlin aide later said there was no such arrangement.
Free Syrian Army rebels fighting al-Assad’s forces in western Syria denied receiving any support from the Russian air force, saying on the contrary it continued to bomb them.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the