U.S., Russia Fail To Bridge Syria Gap, Risking Peace Talks
Source: Bloomberg
January 20, 2016 10:50 PM
By Henry Meyer and Kambiz Foroohar / Bloomberg News
MOSCOW — The top U.S. and Russian diplomats failed Wednesday to bridge divisions over which belligerents in Syria’s five-year civil war should be labeled “terrorist,” a dispute that’s holding up the start of peace talks.
Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov couldn’t agree during three hours of discussions Wednesday in Zurich on who’s allowed a seat at the table at U.N.-sponsored talks between the Syrian government and opposition. Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations special envoy for Syria, said in an interview with CNN from Davos that a Monday deadline for talks to begin was likely to be missed.
“You need a political miracle to have the meeting take place, let alone have serious negotiations,” said Fawaz Gerges, a professor of Middle Eastern politics at the London School of Economics. “Major differences remain between Russia and the U.S.”
Mr. Lavrov said Russia still considers two radical Islamist militias backed by Gulf states and Turkey — Ahrar as-Sham and Army of Islam — as terrorist groups that can’t be part of the Syrian negotiations. “We expect our arguments to be taken on board,” he told reporters after the meeting in Zurich. “We hope the political process will start in the nearest future.”
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/news/world/2016/01/21/US-Russia-fail-to-bridge-Syria-gap-risking-peace-talks/stories/201601210119
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