UN special envoy Kofi Annan has reported to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about his recent talks with Russian president and foreign minister on the resolution of the Syrian conflict, U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said.
Annan arrived in Moscow on Monday on a two-day visit to the Russian capital in an attempt to persuade the Kremlin to support harsher measures against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s embattled regime at a UN vote on Thursday. He held meetings first with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and then with President Vladimir Putin.
“Yesterday afternoon, the Secretary was able to talk to the Joint Special Envoy, and he was able to relay some of his impressions of his meetings in Moscow,” Ventrell told a daily press briefing.
He did not disclose the details of the conversation between Annan and Clinton saying it was a private talk.
“You know he was just in Moscow and, both publicly and privately, has been saying that he needs those consequences for noncompliance. And so to the extent that more hours are needed in diplomacy to get to the right place, then that’s a good thing. But again, I wouldn’t read too much into a few hours of negotiation one way or another,” he added.
Moscow is continuing to promote Annan’s six-point peace plan as the only way to bring an end to the spiral of violence in Syria, despite the failure of a ceasefire stipulated under the deal. Annan’s plan does not call for the departure of Assad - something Russia has said should be determined by “the Syrian people.”
Both Russia and China - veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council - have previously blocked UN resolutions that would have introduced tough sanctions against Syria over what Western powers say is the brutal suppression of a now 17-month revolt against Assad.
