Unless something changed today, there is a readout of a Kerry/Lavrov phone call in yesterday's State Department briefing -- and there was a statement from Kerry offering condolances on the death of the Russian ambassador. For a long time, Kerry has been credited to be almost the only one even trying to speak to Russia with Obama's blessings.
From yesterday's state department briefing:
QUESTION: And then I just wanted to ask about the Moscow talks on Syria today, whether you’ve been in touch with anyone – you, the State Department – and have any readout or assessment of what was agreed in this declaration.
MR KIRBY: Well, as you know, we weren’t a party to the talks, but Secretary Kerry did speak today to both Foreign Minister Lavrov and Foreign Minister Cavusoglu, who were there. And they provided the Secretary a sense of how the discussions went. I think – if you haven’t seen it, we can make sure you get it – there was a joint statement issued by all three countries at the end of the discussion, and I think they did a press conference as well. And as I said yesterday, the Secretary certainly welcomes any effort to try to get a ceasefire in Syria that can actually have meaningful results, particularly for those people that remain in Aleppo, as well as the resumption of political talks. And when he talked to both foreign ministers, he again stressed the need to try to get those political talks back on track as soon as possible.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2016/12/265846.htm
From Monday - Kerry's statement on the ambassador's assassination.
The United States condemns the assassination today in Ankara of Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov. Our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones, the Russian people, and with the other victims who were injured in this shooting.
We stand ready to offer assistance to Russia and Turkey as they investigate this despicable attack, which was also an assault on the right of all diplomats to safely and securely advance and represent their nations around the world.
http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2016/12/265774.htm
It is clear that Russia, Turkey and Iran have been in talks on Syria for about a week - and both the UN and the US are not there. Lavrov has spoken of talks with the UN and US being useless. The UN and the US, on the other hand, have both called the actions of the Assad regime and Russia to be despicable - and more.
The question I have is what is in it for RUSSIA to make announcements that nearly all commincations with the US are frozen?
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