Kerry housed in Russian.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is in Russia at the request of the White House, with ending the Syrian conflict and countering terrorism dominating the agenda. The top US diplomat is also to hold a meeting with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.
“The world benefits when powerful nations with a long history with each other have the ability to be able to find the common ground. Today, I hope, we can find some common ground,” Kerry said in Moscow during
a protocol entry meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The US diplomat also said Russia is a significant contributor in the Syria talks.

The meeting between Foreign Minister Lavrov and Secretary Kerry is their 20th in 2015 and marks Kerry’s second trip to Russia in the last seven months.


“Russia and the United States agree that Islamic State is a threat to everybody, to every country, that there is no negotiation [with ISIS],” Kerry said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry says the visit of the US Secretary of State has been organized at the urgent request of the White House.

The Syrian conflict is no doubt going to dominate the talks. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told journalists that “The principal question now is agreeing a [common] list of terrorist organizations.”

Once the list is formed, further steps could be taken in accordance with the Vienna decisions of a group of states that is wider than the US-led anti-terrorist coalition, Ryabkov said.

The outcome of the Lavrov-Kerry talks is hard to predict, Ryabkov said.


“The perspectives [for the talks] are hard to predict because the situation is constantly changing; It’s no exaggeration to say that every day brings new events and decisions that influence those perspectives,” Ryabkov said.