Russia and the United States agreed to try to arrange an international conference this month on ending the civil war in Syria, and said both sides in the conflict should take part.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry announced the agreement after talks in Moscow that also involved President Vladimir Putin, despite their countries’ differences over the conflict.
The aim is to revive efforts to secure a negotiated political solution that involves the creation of a transitional government in Syria after more than two years of violence that has killed more than 70,000 people.
«The alternative (to a negotiated solution) is that there is even more violence. The alternative is that Syria heads closer to an abyss, if not over the abyss and into chaos,» Kerry told a joint news conference with Lavrov.
«The alternative is that the humanitarian crisis will grow. The alternative is that there may be even a break up of Syria.»
Washington and Moscow agreed on the need for a transitional government at a conference in Geneva last June but left open the question of what would happen to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But, referring to Assad, Lavrov said Russia was not concerned by the fate «certain» individuals.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald