Speaking after a four-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. secretary of state John Kerry said that Moscow and Washington will try in the next few days to push the syrian president Bashar Al-Assad to “take the right decision” to commit fully to the peace talks.
The negotiations in Geneva between the representatives of the syrian government and the opposition are at a standstill, and the united states believe that Russia, which is a close ally of Syria, might persuade Assad to make concessions.
The main obstacle in the talks is the issue of whether the political transition in Syria will lead to the abandonment of power by Assad. Their opponents and western governments they want to leave, but Damascus insists that the issue is not included in the issues are negotiated.
“Russia will need to speak the same about what you decide to do to help Assad to take the right decisions, but we agreed today (Thursday) that it will accelerate the effort to try and promote the political process further,” said Kerry at a press conference after his talks with Putin.
“I believe that Russia is fully involved in this effort and all of us will try to ensure that the President Assad to make the right decision in the coming days to participate in a political process which (I) result in a real transition and will bring peace in Syria,” said Kerry.
But the Russian counterpart of them is Sergei Lavrov, who participated in the press conference in the Kremlin, did not mention in his statements that Russia is ready to exert any pressure on Assad in particular. He said only that Russia will encourage all sides to commit themselves to the principles of the Geneva talks, which are under the auspices of the United Nations.
“Maybe the most important thing at this stage, we agreed to increase the effort to establish the necessary conditions for a political process”, said Lavrov. “The political process will be terminated with the Syrians themselves to agree on how they want to see their country. In terms of direct work, we have agreed to work towards a faster onset of direct talks in Geneva between the government delegation and of a wide range of opposition,” said the Russian minister to the reporters.
And the two ministers said they agreed on immediate steps for the cessation of hostilities and the end of the effort of all parties to acquire new lands, the expansion of humanitarian access to all parts of Syria, and the release by the government and the opposition of the prisoners, starting from the most vulnerable.
The united states and Russia agree to speed up peace process for Syria
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