The News
Friday 29 of March 2024

Kerry Heads to Russia for Ukraine, Syria Talks


U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) gestures next to Poland's Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski at the NATO Summit in Warsaw,photo: Reuters/Jerzy Dudek
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) gestures next to Poland's Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski at the NATO Summit in Warsaw,photo: Reuters/Jerzy Dudek
Visit comes following the tit-for-tat expulsions by both nations of diplomats after a Russian security guard scuffled with a U.S. diplomat

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry is heading to Russia this week for talks with top officials on the conflicts in Ukraine, Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh.

The State Department said Monday that Kerry would visit Moscow on Thursday to discuss ways to strengthen a shaky truce in Syria that appears near the breaking point amid continued violence.

The visit comes at a particularly touchy time in U.S.-Russian relations. In addition to deep differences over Syria and Ukraine, if follows last week’s tit-for-tat expulsions by both nations of diplomats after an incident outside the American embassy in Moscow in which a Russian security guard scuffled with a U.S. diplomat.

On his trip, Kerry also will travel to France to attend Bastille Day celebrations and to Luxembourg, Belgium and Britain for bilateral talks.

MATTHEW LEE