AP, Vienna :U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry opened talks in Vienna on Friday with his Russian, Saudi and Turkish counterparts aimed at reviving a moribund effort to end Syria’s civil war.Kerry began a day-long series of meetings in the Austrian capital in consultations with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu, both of whom share the U.S. view that Syrian President Bashar Assad must go for the conflict is to be resolved. None of the three spoke to reporters as they opened their discussions at a luxury hotel. They will be joined later by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose country is Assad’s prime backer.On Thursday in Berlin, Kerry said one focus of the talks would be to consider “a broader participation of very necessary countries, all of whom need to be at the table” to discuss the way forward in Syria. Russia is keen to bring Assad’s other main supporter, Iran, into the talks, but Saudi Arabia in particular is opposed.Kerry said all the countries with an interest in Syria, including Iran and Russia, agree on what the result should be: a unified, secular and pluralistic Syria governed with the consent of its people. He said that Assad’s continued presence is the only thing preventing that goal from being realized.”One thing stands in the way of being able to rapidly move to implement that, and it’s a person called Assad – Bashar Assad,” he said. “So the issue is, can we get to a political process during which time the future devolution and allocation of power in Syria is properly allocated by the people of Syria? And that’s what we’re working towards. So my hope is that these talks can begin a process that could open up a greater discussion.”Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the West of playing a “double game” with “terrorist” groups in Syria, where Moscow and a US-led coalition are conducting separate bombing campaigns.”It’s always difficult to play a double game: declaring a fight against terrorists while simultaneously trying to use some of them to arrange the pieces on the Middle East chess board in one’s own interests,” Putin said at a meeting of political scientists in Sochi known as the Valdai Club.”It is impossible to prevail over terrorism if some of the terrorists are being used as a battering ram to overthrow undesirable regimes,” Putin said.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is set to meet US Secretary of State John Kerry, as well as their Turkish and Saudi counterparts, in Vienna today for crucial talks on the Syrian conflict, a four-year war that has killed more 250,000 people and forced millions from their homes.The high-level meeting follows the surprise visit of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Moscow for talks with Putin on Tuesday, the embattled leader’s first foreign visit since 2011.Russia which has pledged to support Damascus militarily, much to the West’s dismay has insisted the air strikes it has conducted since September 30 in the war-torn country are hitting the Islamic State and other “terrorist” groups, and are being conducted at the Syrian leadership’s request.
