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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Russia, U.S. still apart on Syria ahead of UN talks
Haraz N. Ghanbari / The Associated Press Clinton, Lavrov met Friday in St. Petersburg, Russia. (CP)
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- Top U.S. and Russian diplomats failed to bridge their differences over Syria on Friday on the eve of a landmark multinational conference designed to sign off on a plan to ease Syrian President Bashar Assad out of power.
U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met for one hour in St. Petersburg, then shared dinner before Clinton left Russia for Geneva, said a U.S. State Department official said, adding the two talked through all areas of differences and difficulties.
The St. Petersburg meeting occurred ahead of today's conference aimed at ending 16 months of violence in Syria. There was hope Clinton and Lavrov could iron out differences over the transition plan proposed by UN envoy Kofi Annan. It calls for the formation of a national unity government that would oversee the drafting of a new constitution and elections.
Annan laid out his expectations for the conference in an op-ed in Friday's Washington Post. The future government in Syria, he said, "must include a government of national unity that would exercise full executive powers.
"This government could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups, but those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardize stability and reconciliation would be excluded," Annan said.
U.S. officials are adamant the plan does not allow Assad to remain in power atop the transitional government, but Russia insists outsiders cannot dictate the solution or the composition of the interim administration.The difference in interpretation between the two could prove to be the plan's unraveling.
Russia is Syria's most important ally, protector and supplier of arms. Diplomatic hopes have rested on persuading Russia to agree to a plan to end the Assad family dynasty, which has ruled Syria for more than four decades.
-- The Associated Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 1, 2012 A22
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