Russia-US split casts shadow over Syria Geneva talks - BBC News
29 June 2012 Last updated at 17:36 EThttp://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/image...15204020-1.jpgMr Lavrov said he was optimistic ahead of Saturday's talks
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Areas of "difficulty and difference" remain between Russia and the US ahead of key talks on the crisis in Syria, a US official says.
The comment came soon after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there was a "very good chance" of finding common ground at Saturday's talks in Geneva.
Mr Lavrov spoke after meeting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Friday was one of the deadliest days of the Syrian conflict, activists said.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that there were 117 civilian deaths on Thursday, while the Local Co-Ordination Committees, a network of activists inside Syria, said 139 people had died - more than of them in the suburbs of Damascus.
'Change in position'Continue reading the main storyAnalysis
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/image...05713063-1.jpg Steven Rosenberg BBC News, Moscow
The latest diplomatic efforts on Syria cannot succeed without Russia's backing. It's a sign of just how key Moscow is that ahead of the talks in Geneva, there were talks in St Petersburg - between the Russian Foreign Minister and the US Secretary of State.
Russia's role is vital because it has influence in Damascus which the other players don't - it supplies Syria with weapons, and political support - while Russia's veto at the UN Security Council has already been used as a counterweight to western pressure. Speaking afterwards Sergei Lavrov said he believed there was a good chance that all sides round the table in Geneva would find common ground.
But recent rhetoric between Russia and America suggests that East and West still don't agree on the key question - the fate of President Assad. Moscow sounds unwilling to pressure him into leaving power. If that remains Russia's position, then reaching a consensus on a transitional government will be hard.
Saturday's conference in Geneva was called by the UN and Arab League envoy, Kofi Annan, as the violence intensified in Syria.
Mr Lavrov and Mrs Clinton met in St Petersburg in an effort to agree a consensus formula to end the bloodshed in Syria.
BBC Moscow correspondent Steven Rosenberg says recent rhetoric between Russia and America suggests that east and west still don't agree on the key question - the fate of President Assad.
Moscow sounds unwilling to pressure him into leaving power and if that remains Russia's position, then reaching a consensus on a transitional government will be hard, our correspondent says.
Russia has been hostile to any solution that would see Mr Assad forced from power.
After leaving the talks with Mrs Clinton, Mr Lavrov said: "We have a very good chance to find common ground at the conference in Geneva tomorrow.
"I felt a change in Hillary Clinton's position. There were not ultimatums. Not a word was said that the document we will discuss in Geneva cannot be touched (changed)."
But a US State Department official later told reporters: "There are still areas of difficulty and difference."
Discussing the chances of an agreement being reached on Saturday, the official said: "We may get there, we may not."
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