WASHINGTON — Warning a UN-backed Syria peace process was nearing the “end stage” before collapse, Secretary of State John Kerry met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for three hours in Moscow on July 14 to see if they could reach agreement on a US proposal to deepen US-Russian coordination to target al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate, ground the Syrian air force, expand the Syria cease-fire nationwide and make way for resumed Syria political transition talks.
“We are here to test again, in what is pretty close to the end stage, of whether this is going to work,” a senior State Department official, speaking not for attribution, told journalists flying in with Kerry to Moscow on July 14.