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In Moscow, Kerry Calls For 'Common Ground' On Syria, Ukraine

December 15, 2015
by RFE/RL

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for the 'seriousness' of Russia's commitment to resolving conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, as the U.S. diplomat opened intensive talks in Moscow.

Kerry's meetings with Russian leaders on December 15 come amid a concerted push to try to bridge differences with Moscow, which has directly challenged Washington with its involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine and its military deployment to Syria.

Ties between the two nations are at their lowest ebb since the Soviet era.

Kerry's visit came ahead of a planned third round of Syria talks in New York later this week, though it was unclear whether that gathering would go ahead given outstanding differences.

At the start of his meeting, Kerry told Putin that the United States appreciates 'the seriousness of your commitment in time and thought into these issues.'

The talks were a 'strong beginning on opening up possibilities' for a diplomatic settlement in Syria, Kerry said.

'You know that we are jointly seeking solutions to the most acute crises. I know that after our meeting in Paris, the American side drafted its vision of a solution to a number of problems, including the Syrian crisis,' Putin was quoted as saying.

Earlier in the day, Kerry told Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that he was looking for 'common ground' in talks with Russia on efforts to resolve the conflicts in Syria and eastern Ukraine.

'The world benefits when powerful nations with a long history with each other have the ability to be able to find common ground,' Kerry said at the start of his three-hour meeting with Lavrov.

Kerry also said Washington and Moscow agree that Islamic State militants, who controls swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq, are 'a threat to everybody, to every country. They are the worst of terrorists. They attack culture and history and all decency.'

Lavrov also expressed 'hope that [Kerry's] visit will be fruitful.' He stressed that Islamic State is also active in Afghanistan, Libya, and Yemen.

Russia and the United States share a common goal of defeating the Islamic State, but see things very differently on the question of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's fate.

The United States and its allies insist that he cannot stay in power as part of a political resolution to the nearly five-year-old civil war, where government forces are fighting both Islamic militants and moderate opposition groups -- some backed by the U.S.-led coalition.

Russia, which is a longtime ally of Damascus, insists that it should be up to the Syrian people to choose their leader and that Assad's army is the force most capable of defeating IS fighters.

Kerry's trip is his second to Russia this year -- he and Putin met in May in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. But it is the first since Russia launched a bombing campaign targeting armed groups fighting Assad in what Moscow has framed as a counterterrorist campaign. Washington has accused Moscow of mainly targeting moderate Syrian opposition forces, aiming to prop up Assad's regime.

Ahead of Kerry's trip, Celeste Wallander, senior director for Russia and Central Asia at the White House National Security Council, told RFE/RL that, while the two sides' positions on Assad may not have 'come closer,' Washington sees the possibility of Russia's position 'evolving such that we could agree.'

'It's clear that there could be an agreement on a transition that meets U.S. and coalition requirements that Assad not be part of Syria's leadership, and those are the discussions that are under intensive focus right now,' Wallander said in a December 11 interview.

On the eve of Kerry's arrival, a senior State Department official told reporters that 'we don't have a full meeting of the minds yet' concerning Assad's future.

'We will talk about some of the details of a transition...in the hopes of narrowing the differences between us,' Reuters quoted the unidentified official as saying.

One indication of the continuing gap in understanding between Moscow and Washington came in the wake of a meeting last week of several Syrian opposition groups who agreed to unite to negotiate with Assad's government in peace talks.

While Kerry said 'kinks' still needed to be worked out on the plan to unite the groups, the Kremlin rejected the outcome of the Riyadh meeting, saying it did not have the right to speak on behalf of the entire Syrian opposition.

Before traveling to Moscow, Kerry met with counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Jordan in Paris.

Kerry and Putin were also set to discuss the implementation of the Minsk cease-fire accords, signed in February, to halt violence between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine The United Nations says more than 9,000 people have been killed since the unrest erupted in April 2014.

'We're going to talk very extensively and very carefully about what's needed to implement the Minsk agreements,' Wallander told RFE/RL last week.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on December 14 that Kerry would also encourage efforts by Russia to ease tensions with Turkey after Ankara shot down a Russian jet near the Syrian border last month.

Ahead of his talks with Putin, Kerry also met with veteran Russian activist Lyudmila Alekseyeva in Moscow, as the government moves to tighten restrictions on independent civil society groups.

'He asked what is happening in Russia and what effect the law on non-governmental organizations has had on society,' said Alekseyeva, who heads the Moscow Helsinki Group.

The controversial law aimed to 'destroy the nascent civil society," she told Kerry.

With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, Tass, and Interfax

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/kerry-arrives- moscow-putin-talks-syria-ukraine/27427689.html

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In Moscow, Kerry Calls For 'Common Ground' On Syria, Ukraine