
(Moscow) – After months of sharp differences, the United States and Russia have agreed to push both sides in Syria to find an end to the bloodshed, offering to hold an international conference in search of peace. In talks which stretched late into the night, US Secretary of State John Kerry met first for more than two hours with President Vladimir Putin and then for a further three hours with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“We agreed that Russia and the United States will encourage both the Syria government and opposition groups to find a political solution. Hopefully by the end of May the two ministers working together could convene an international conference to build on the Geneva accord agreed by world powers last June for a peaceful solution in Syria,” Lavrov told reporters at a concluding news conference.