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               Kerry to Meet with Putin, Lavrov on Syria, Ukraine

   by VOA News

   U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is due in Moscow Wednesday for talks
   on Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister
   Sergei Lavrov.

   Syria and Ukraine are expected to top the agenda. The State Department
   says the visit was arranged after President Putin announced last week
   that Russia is partially withdrawing its military forces from Syria.

   The State Department says Kerry and Russian officials will discuss how
   to ensure that the cessation of hostilities continues in Syria, provide
   humanitarian aid, and improve and expand access for humanitarian
   workers. They will also discuss how to facilitate a political
   transition in Syria and how to defeat Islamic State militants.

   On Ukraine, Kerry is expected to urge Russia to do more to press
   pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine to respect the cease-fire
   established last month.

   Kerry is also expected to call on Russia to free Ukrainian pilot Nadiya
   Savchenko, who was sentenced Tuesday to 22 years in prison on charges
   of complicity to murder. The United States says those charges are
   false.

   Savchenko was convicted of complicity in the 2014 murder of two Russian
   journalists covering the war in east Ukraine, by directing artillery
   fire that led to their deaths in the Lugansk area of eastern Ukraine.

   Savchenko says cell phone records prove she was captured by pro-Moscow
   militants before the journalists were killed.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-to-meet-with-putin-lavrov-on-sy
   ria-ukraine/3250676.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-to-meet-with-putin-lavrov-on-syria-ukraine/3250676.html