U.S., Russia meet on Syria, differ on Assad

Before Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, met on Friday to explore possible political solution to the civil war in Syria, they were well aware of the biggest obstacle: Russia wants Syria’s president, Bashar Assad, to stay, while the United States wants him to go.

They walked out of the meeting with the same disagreement.

But Kerry, speaking to reporters after the meeting, said that the mere fact that they were talking was a positive sign, and that the discussions had begun in a “very advanced place.”

The United States and Russia agree that the war needs to end through a political deal, and that they want Syria to remain a unified country with a secular government, Kerry said.

Like the United States, “Russia wants to see Daesh and other extremists eliminated from the scene,” he said, using the Arabic name for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

On what he called “the resolution of the Assad problem,” Kerry said he thought the two sides could reach an agreement on a process to address that question even if they disagree on the Syrian leader’s role.

Kerry ran through a list of items regarding Syria on which the United States and Russia agree, and some of those on which they continue to have differences. The points of agreement including keeping a unified Syria, eliminating the presence of the Islamic State or other extremists and ensuring that Syrians have the right to choose their future leadership. Kerry described Russia’s commitment to the latter as “a possibility of transition.”

But the secretary of state also admonished Russia, saying it should play a constructive role in fighting the Islamic State, repeating the criticism of its bombing targets to date.