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Russian and U.S. Officials Return to Geneva for Talks on Syria
Hopes for Syria Talks Hinge on Kerry-Lavrov Meeting
(34 minutes later)
GENEVA — Senior United States, Russian and United Nations officials resumed talks in Geneva on Tuesday aimed at convening an international conference on Syria but with no hint of flexibility from the parties to the conflict or their foreign backers.
GENEVA — Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, will meet next week to discuss Syria, according to a statement released by the United Nations on Tuesday, after senior Russian, United States and United Nations officials meeting in Geneva failed to make headway on plans for a peace conference.
Wendy R. Sherman, the United States under secretary of state for political affairs, and two Russian deputy foreign ministers, Mikhail Bogdanov and Gennady Gatilov, met the United Nations special representative for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, for the second time in less than a month to try to agree on a formula for bringing Syria’s warring parties to negotiations on a political settlement to end more than two years of civil war.
Plans for the Kerry-Lavrov meeting provided the only concrete detail to come out of more than five hours of talks between Wendy R. Sherman, the United States under secretary of state for political affairs; two Russian deputy foreign ministers, Mikhail Bogdanov and Gennady Gatilov; and the United Nations special representative for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi.
Their discussions were to include the possible timing of a conference, who would attend and how to structure a conference to give it the best chance of success, Mr. Brahimi said before the talks started.
The terse statement issued at the end of their meeting said that Russia, the United States and the United Nations would consult further to determine the date of a conference and complete the list of participants. Mr. Gatilov told journalists that these were among the questions on which they had failed to agree. Ms. Sherman, who was due to join the Russian officials for informal talks over dinner, made no comment.
The situation in Syria has not improved since they last met in Geneva in early June with “relentless destruction, killing, more suffering, more injustice,” Mr. Brahimi said, adding that he was doubtful it would be possible to hold a conference on Syria in July.
Before the meeting started, Mr. Brahimi said he doubted any conference could take place in July and expressed hope that the major powers and regional powers would act to contain a conflict that was “getting out of hand.”
Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, began preliminary talks in May in a bid to halt the carnage that has claimed more than 90,000 lives.
Tuesday’s meeting only went over in detail the points raised at a round of talks earlier this month, according to an official in contact with those at the meeting but not authorized to comment publicly. The issue of who attends the conference has proved a sticking point, with the United States opposed to participation by Iran. A thornier problem is the role, if any, of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.
The Group of 8 meeting in Northern Ireland last week underscored the divide between President Obama and the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, who is President Bashar al-Assad’s chief patron.
Both sides agreed the peace conference should lead to formation of a transitional government with full executive powers over all institutions of state, but the United States interprets that to mean a full transfer of powers from Mr. Assad. Russia, however, has insisted that only Syrians can decide his role.
With Mr. Assad’s forces — backed by Iran and Lebanon’s militant Shiite faction, Hezbollah — gaining the upper hand in Syria, supporters of the rebels in the Friends of Syria group, including the United States, agreed over the weekend on the urgent need to provide them with small-caliber weapons and other supplies.
Syria’s foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, in a news conference Monday, sought to dispel any idea that Mr. Assad’s position was open to debate. The goal of any Geneva meeting would be to form a government of national unity, he said. “We head to Geneva not to hand over power to another side,” he added.
“Providing arms may be the only means of achieving peace,” said Qatar’s prime minister, Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani.
But prospects for convening any conference looked remote in the face of the rigid positions held by parties fighting a civil war in Syria with undiminished ferocity.
The Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, reacting to that decision on Monday, warned: “Arming the opposition will obstruct Geneva. Arming the opposition will kill more of our people.”
At their first meeting in Geneva this month, the American and Russian officials agreed on a basic formula for a Syria conference hosted by the United Nations but they did not resolve such basic questions as who would attend, with the Americans opposing participation by Iran, and the thornier question of what role would be open to Mr. Assad.
In his news conference, Mr. Moallem sought to dispel any idea that Mr. Assad’s position was open to debate. The goal of any Geneva meeting would be to form a government of national unity, he said. “We head to Geneva not to hand over power to another side,” he added.
The comments were “unfortunate but not surprising,” a State Department spokesman said in Washington. The United States believes a negotiated settlement in Geneva would stipulate the full transfer of power to a transitional authority, he added.
