Kerry, Russians hold marathon talks on crises
The leaders agree on the need for cooperation on Ukraine and beyond.
MOSCOW — Secretary of State John F. Kerry huddled with Russian leaders for hours Tuesday in wideranging talks on the world crises over which they have bitterly differed and pledged reinvigorated cooperation to resolve the disputes racking Ukraine, Syria and other violence-torn states.
Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists at the end of the talks, which lasted more than eight hours, that they saw eye to eye on the pressing need to put aside differences over the origins of the difficulties plaguing the U.S.-Russian relationship.
They agreed to disagree on many of the problems, both said, but committed themselves to doing everything possible to break out of their diplomatic impasse.
Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Kerry and Lavrov for four more hours at his Sochi presidential residence, a commitment of time and interest that Kerry praised as evidence the Kremlin is serious about ending the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine. Pro-Russia separatists have been battling government forces there for more than a year.
Lavrov said the key issue discussed during Kerry’s visit to Sochi was the Ukraine crisis. The United States and its Western allies accuse Russia of instigating and arming the rebels who control two large regions of the depressed eastern Ukrainian rust belt.
“We agreed that it is only possible to solve this dispute through comprehensive and full implementation of the peace plan,” Lavrov said of a Feb. 12 accord brokered in Belarus’ capital, Minsk, but repeatedly violated.
He said both he and Kerry had promised to use their influence with the respective sides to honor the cease-fire and withdraw heavy weapons from the front lines.
Kerry, who last visited Russia two years ago, began his readout of the talks by recounting his visit to the World War II memorial in Sochi, where 4,000 victims of the fight against Nazi Germany are buried. He and Lavrov laid wreaths to the fallen soldiers and civilians of the war won 70 years ago.
“Sergei and I both came away from the ceremony with a powerful reminder of the sacrifices shared to bring about a safer world and what our nations can accomplish when our people are working together,” Kerry said.
Although foreign dignitaries routinely begin visits to Moscow by paying respects to the war dead, Kerry’s gesture in making his first stop the war memorial appeared to ease the tension that has shrouded U.S.-Russian relations of late. The United States and most European countries boycotted Russia’s Victory Day parade Saturday in protest of Putin’s annexation of Crimea last year.
The two top diplomats also discussed the 4-yearold civil war in Syria, and though they continued to disagree over the need for — and the form of — a change in leadership in Damascus, pledged renewed efforts to broker an end to the conf lict.
They also found common ground on the need to join forces in the fight against Islamic State, describing the extremists holding huge areas of Syria and Iraq as a grave threat to the world.
In addition to Ukraine and Syria, they discussed Yemen and Libya.
On Iran, Kerry said there was consensus that with a nuclear deal with Tehran so close, they needed to devote themselves to seeing a final accord reached.
Russian TV coverage of the start of their meeting showed Putin smiling and exuding confidence as he shook Kerry’s hand. Before the meetings and the clear effort of both sides to project a positive outcome, Putin and other Russian officials cast Kerry’s visit as Washington finally coming to recognize the futility of its efforts to isolate Russia.