US and Russia can work together on Syria, says Kerry

Russia and the United States can work together to make progress in ending the war in Syria, US secretary of state John Kerry told Vladimir Putin yesterday, seeking to narrow their differences over a political transition in Damascus.

“We’re at a strong beginning, opening up possibilities,” Mr Kerry told the Russian leader at the start of their meeting. “Together, the United States and Russia have an ability to make a significant difference.”

Mr Kerry is hoping his discussions with Mr Putin and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will prepare the ground for a third round of talks of world powers on Syria, planned for Friday in New York.

It is unclear whether the meeting will go ahead without progress between Russia and the US over the role of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in any political transition and over which rebel groups should be part of peace talks.

“We are seeking with you solutions to the most acute crisis [in Syria],” Mr Putin told Mr Kerry, before the two men began closed-door talks.

Earlier, Mr Kerry had said he was looking forward to making “real progress”. “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,” he said at the start of a meeting with Mr Lavrov, the foreign minister.

Despite differences

“Even when there have been differences between us, we have been able to work effectively on specific issues.”

Russia, one of Mr Assad’s staunchest allies, has launched a campaign of air strikes it said were aimed at Islamic State (Isis) militants but which also supported Mr Assad’s forces. The Kremlin says the Syrian people, and not external powers, should decide Assad’s political fate.

Mr Lavrov told Mr Kerry there was a need for more effective international co-operation in fighting terror groups: “On that route, there are still questions which today we need to look at.”

The run-up to the talks underlined the distance between Moscow and Washington on how to deal with the crisis.

Good vs bad terrorists

For its part, the Russian foreign ministry issued a statement complaining that Washington was not ready to fully co-operate in the struggle against Isis militants and needed to rethink its policy of “dividing terrorists into good and bad ones”.

Mr Kerry's visit follows a meeting last week in Saudi Arabia which agreed to unite a number of opposition groups, not including Isis, to negotiate with Damascus in peace talks.

US officials expect the talks with Mr Putin to be dominated by the list of opposition groups that would join the talks.

A 34-member secretariat established at the Riyadh meeting is expected to meet later this week to decide matters including who will chair it. The secretariat, which includes armed factions and members of the political opposition, will also pick a negotiating team for talks with the government, though it is not certain that will happen this week.

Mr Assad last week rejected the idea of talks with armed groups, appearing to further diminish the chances of negotiations beginning in line with a January 1st target date. “It seems ambitious,” said a senior western diplomat.

The diplomat said the names suggested to head the secretariat were Riad Hijab, who briefly served as Syrian prime minister before defecting to the opposition in 2012, and Ahmad Jarba, a former head of the Syrian National Coalition opposition body.– (Reuters)