Lavrov and Kerry to discuss lists of opposition groups and terrorists in Syria

MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold a meeting with US State Secretary John Kerry in Moscow on Tuesday. This is Kerry’s third visit to Russia. The state secretary will also hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moscow hopes that the upcoming meeting will facilitate the normalization of Russian-US relations. "The situation in Russian-American relations remains difficult. A number of confrontational steps made by Washington under the pretext of the Ukrainian crisis has dealt a major blow to cooperation between our countries," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. The talks will mostly focus on the situation in Syria, first of all in the framework of the Syria Support Group. It is still unclear whether a meeting in this format will take place in New York on December 18-19. Moscow does not thinks holding a conference for the sake of just organizing talks is pointless. The "homework" must be completed, including making final lists of opposition and terrorist groups. In his speech at the Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund, Lavrov noted positive dynamic in the Syrian settlement and called on colleagues to continue practical work. "All foreign players who have real influence on the situation in Syria were gathered at the negotiations table. Now that the (Syria Support) Group has been established and it announced its priorities which, according to foreign players, should bring us forward in the settlement of this crisis, it is important to get practical results," Lavrov said. "These priorities are very clear - uncompromising fight against terrorism, first of all against the Islamic State (terrorist organization banned in Russia), Jebhat al-Nusra and others, and simultaneous promotion of political process with participation of all Syrian political forces without exception with consideration of securing their interests," the foreign minister noted. The conference of the Syrian opposition in Riyadh brought together not all representatives of opponents of the Bashar Assad regime. Such groups as Jaysh al-Islam and Ahrar ash-Sham also took part in the talks. Jaysh al-Islam is suspected of involvement in the shellings of the Russian Embassy in Damascus. Moscow clearly stated that it would not allow to paint extremists as moderate opposition. Read more