\n Moscow and Washington have pledged to try again to negotiate a lasting ceasefire for war-ravaged Syria, committing to multilateral weekend talks in Europe, after the last attempt collapsed amid bitter recriminations.\n<\/p>\n
\n Syria has been plunged into some of the worst violence of the five-year civil war after a hard-won truce collapsed as government forces backed by Russian air power push a brutal assault on rebel-held eastern Aleppo.\n<\/p>\n
\n As the West accused Russia of potential war crimes over the bombing campaign, Moscow and Washington froze talks, trading blame for the collapse of the ceasefire they had brokered.\n<\/p>\n
\n There is now a push to give diplomacy another chance with Washington announcing Wednesday two days of talks -- in Lausanne on Saturday, and in London on Sunday.\n<\/p>\n
\n US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are expected to be joined in Lausanne by counterparts from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar -- all backers of Syrian opposition forces.\n<\/p>\n
\n Neither side has confirmed an invitation to Iran, a key player in the conflict and an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.\n<\/p>\n
\n Then in London, Kerry will likely meet up with his European counterparts -- from Britain, France and Germany.\n<\/p>\n
\n The United Nations said Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has been invited to take part in the talks but a spokesman said he did not know if he would attend.\n<\/p>\n
\n Lavrov told CNN in an interview Wednesday that he hoped the weekend talks in Switzerland could help \"launch a serious dialogue\" based on the now-defunct US-Russian pact.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We would like to have a meeting in this narrow format, to have a businesslike discussion, not another General Assembly-like debate,\" Lavrov said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The floor of the General Assembly was the scene of a stormy weekend meeting as Russia vetoed a resolution on a ceasefire.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed Paris for the vetoed proposal, accusing it of deliberately putting forward a motion that Moscow would reject.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"It was aimed at inflaming the situation and fanning hysteria around Russia,\" Putin said.\n<\/p>\n
\n New Zealand on Wednesday presented another draft resolution demanding an end to air attacks in Syria's battleground city of Aleppo -- likely to again fan tensions between the West and Russia, who back opposing sides in the suppurating civil war.\n<\/p>\n
\n Fresh air strikes and artillery fire in Aleppo on Wednesday left at least seven people dead, an international monitor said, a day after Russia was accused of stepping up its raids on the city.\n<\/p>\n
\n The United Nations has warned of the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe taking place in Aleppo, saying that the rebel-held territory could be destroyed entirely by the end of the year.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Compromise not blackmail -\n<\/p>\n
\n Despite the continuing exchange of insults, the negotiations had never really stopped behind closed doors, with Kerry and Lavrov speaking by telephone in recent days.\n<\/p>\n
\n State Department spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday that for Kerry, the bilateral talks had been suspended but were \"not dead.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Kirby also emphasized the importance of both tracks of talks -- with Russia, which has \"the most influence on Assad,\" and with other regional players with \"influence on other units.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n But hopes remain low for a breakthrough to end the five-year conflict that has claimed some 300,000 lives.\n<\/p>\n
\n Some have even called for punitive measures against Moscow, though French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault cautioned against \"a cycle of sanctions for the sake of sanctions.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Putin on Wednesday warned Western countries against imposing sanctions, stressing that Russia would not let itself be isolated.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We should not go down the path of pressure and blackmail but search for compromise,\" Putin said in Moscow.\n<\/p>\n
\n He also placed blame on the West for the dire situation.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I am deeply convinced that it is our Western partners, first and foremost of course the United States, who are responsible for the situation,\" he told France's TF1 television.\n<\/p>\n
\n bur-as\/jah\n<\/p>\n
\n TF1 - TELEVISION FRANCAISE 1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Moscow and Washington have pledged to try again to negotiate a lasting ceasefire for war-ravaged Syria, committing to multilateral weekend talks in Europe, after the last attempt collapsed amid bitter recriminations. Syria has been plunged into some of the worst violence of the five-year civil war after a hard-won truce collapsed as government forces backed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-29850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n