Kerry Calls For Common Ground With Russia

(15 Dec 2015) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4016139 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Tuesday for the United States and Russia to find "common ground" on contentious differences over ending Syria's civil war and restoring stability in eastern Ukraine. Opening talks in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov before seeing President Vladimir Putin, Kerry said the world benefits when great powers agree in their approaches to major crises. Russia and the U.S. are at odds over the mechanics of a political transition aimed at halting the war in Syria, as well as the military approach to fighting the Islamic State group. The results of Tuesday's meetings will determine whether or not a new international diplomatic conference on Syria will go ahead as planned at the United Nations on Friday. On Ukraine, the two countries are split over the implementation of a February agreement meant to end hostilities between the Kiev government and Russian-backed separatists in the east. Kerry's trip to Moscow is his second to Russia this year — he met with Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in May — but his first since frosty relations over Ukraine and Russia's annexation of Crimea were exacerbated by Moscow's intervention in Syria in late September. President Barack Obama has seen Putin briefly twice since then at summits in Turkey and France. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...