Kerry vows to work with Moscow for peace in Syria despite differences

GENEVA/MOSCOW, March 24: Secretary of State John Kerry, ahead of a meeting with Vladimir Putin, said the United States and Russia must work together to end the war in Syria despite their differences, and called for a further reduction in violence and more aid deliveries.
Russia and the United States have emerged as the two outside powers with a decisive say in what happens next in Syria’s five year-old civil conflict.
Ahead of talks with the Russian leader in Moscow, Kerry said a fragile partial truce had cut levels of violence, but he wanted to see a further reduction plus greater flows of aid.
Kerry’s visit came as Syrian state television said government forces had fought their way into Palmyra, with the army backed by Russian air cover seeking to recapture the historic city from Islamic State insurgents.
Syrian government and opposition parties at peace talks in Geneva are expected to agree on Thursday to a document drawn up by a U.N. special envoy outlining basic principles, in what one diplomat described as a “baby step” forward.
Kerry is also expected to press Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the future of President Bashar al-Assad. While the United States wants Assad to step aside, Russia says only the Syrian people can decide his fate at the ballot box.
Washington believes that Moscow, closely allied to Assad, can nudge Damascus to make important concessions.
Kerry said it was encouraging that Russia and the United States had cooperated “despite differences … in the face of this urgency to do what is necessary to meet the challenge.”
He said there was a hope that his meetings in Moscow could “further find and chart the road ahead so that we can bring this conflict in Syria to a close as fast as possible”.
The United States and its allies have been backing armed groups that rose up against Assad’s rule, while Moscow has asserted its role with a five-month military campaign that turned the tide of the fighting in Assad’s favor.-Reuters