US to meet with Russia over Syria

By Julian Pecquet - 01/09/13 11:41 AM ET

American and Russian diplomats will meet Friday with the United Nations special envoy to Syria, the U.N. announced Wednesday, in the latest bid to end a conflict that has claimed more than 60,000 lives since March 2011.

The two countries have called for the formation of a transitional government but are at odds over the fate of President Bashar Assad, whom President Obama has said must leave power. Russia has blocked sanctions on the regime three times in the Security Council.

“The Joint Special Representative for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, will meet at the UN Headquarters in Geneva on Friday with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and United States Deputy Secretary of State William Burns,” the U.N. press office said in a statement. “The meeting is aimed at furthering their discussions to arrive at a political solution to the crisis in Syria.”

The meeting comes as Syria on Wednesday released more than 2,000 prisoners in return for 48 Iranians freed by rebels after five months in captivity, The New York Times reports. The release appears to be the biggest prisoner swap since the beginning of the uprising against Assad 22 months ago.

U.S. and Russian officials met with Brahimi twice last month. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with him and her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Dublin on Dec. 6, while Burns and Bogdanov saw him in Geneva on Dec. 9.