Clinton, Russian diplomat discuss Syria • ST. PETERSBURG, russia — The top U.S. and Russian diplomats failed Friday to bridge their differences over Syria on the eve of a multinational conference that had been designed to sign off on a plan to ease Syrian President Bashar Assad out of power.
“We may get there tomorrow, we may not,” said a senior State Department official as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton left Russia for Geneva, where the conference will be held Saturday.
Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met for one hour in St. Petersburg, then shared dinner before Clinton left Russia. Areas of difficulty and difference remain, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.
Lavrov issued a hopeful statement. “I have felt a change in my colleague Hillary Clinton’s position in a way that I heard no ultimatums, nothing was said about that paper (the Kofi Annan plan) being absolutely unchangeable,” he was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.
Lavrov predicted the meeting had a “good chance” of finding a way forward. The Associated Press
