What will change in US-Russian relations after Kerry's visit?

Today US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Sochi. In addition, as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, Vladimir Putin will receive Kerry.

Kerry has not visited Russia since May 2013, TASS clarifies.

According to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, Lavrov and Kerry are expected to meet for "a discussion of a broad spectrum of current problems in international relations." In particular, they will focus on resolving the conflict in Ukraine, international security, the fight against terrorism, the situation in the Middle East and the Iranian nuclear program.

As for the meeting of Putin and Kerry, according to Peskov, "the agenda is extremely broad," but the main issue of the meeting will be the bilateral relations between Russia and America. The question of sanctions would not be raised.

 

A political analyst and a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, Sergey Markov, told Vestnik Kavkaza that the parties will try to maximally discuss the Ukrainian issue, and other issues, particularly the fight against Islamic State and others.

 

"I think that Kerry will apologize for the US government, which is known to have organized a boycott on visiting Moscow on May 9th. Of course, this is a very negative thing," the expert suggested .

 

About Ukraine, Markov is sure that "Kerry is completely fulfilling the Party's policy of war, and he will certainly give an ultimatum to Moscow. Neither Washington, nor Kiev are going to fulfill the Minsk Agreement. They are preparing new military actions. I think that Kerry Lavrov will try to put pressure on Lavrov with it," Markov said.

Sergey Markov doubts that the negotiations will include the problem of sanctions. "Russia has many times declared that it would not beg for any lifting of sanctions. This is a private affair of these countries," a member of the Public Chamber summed up.

 

A senior scientist of the Institute for International Research of MGIMO, Leonid Gusev, noted the special nature of the upcoming talks. "Of course, John Kerry's meeting in Sochi with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, on the one hand, is working within the framework of permanent systematic contact of the US State Department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. Nevertheless, I must say that the meeting of John Kerry and Russian President Vladimir Putin will be held today in Sochi, which certainly will give to US Secretary of State's visit to Russia an additional impetus and extra attention," he said.According to the expert, "the circle of the issues will be extremely broad." "The main issues of the meeting, I think, will be questions of a political settlement of the situation in Ukraine. Of course, this problem within the framework of the Normandy Quartet will be discussed. It is argued that the United States wants to be a part of the Normandy Quartet, so it can be quintet," Gusev said."The Iranian nuclear program and the results of the meeting to address this issue will be an important issue, because the sanctions against Iran should be removed by June 30. They will discuss the problems in Syria and the situation in Yemen. The bilateral relations between Russia and the United States will be touched," he said. Speaking about the possibility of discussing the sanctions, he suggested that it will take place. "The United States and its partners in Europe, especially Great Britain arre concerned about the situation that developed in the EU countries, when there is a sufficiently serious outflow of Russian capital deployed in Europe. And in this respect I think that John Kerry will ask, figuratively speaking, the leadership of our country to influence this process," Gusev said.At the same time, according to the expert, "there will not be a serious breakthrough." "You have to understand that John Kerry is only US Secretary of State, a Foreign Minister, he's not the president of the United States.

A senior scientist of the Institute for International Research of MGIMO, Leonid Gusev, noted the special nature of the upcoming talks. "Of course, John Kerry's meeting in Sochi with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, on the one hand, is working within the framework of permanent systematic contact of the US State Department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. Nevertheless, I must say that the meeting of John Kerry and Russian President Vladimir Putin will be held today in Sochi, which certainly will give the US Secretary of State's visit to Russia additional impetus and extra attention," he said.

 

According to the expert, "the circle of issues will be extremely broad." "The main issues of the meeting, I think, will be questions of a political settlement of the situation in Ukraine. Of course, this problem within the framework of the Normandy Quartet will be discussed. It is argued that the United States wants to be a part of the Normandy Quartet, so it can be quintet," Gusev said.

 

"The Iranian nuclear program and the results of the meeting to address this issue will be an important issue, because the sanctions against Iran should be removed by June 30. They will discuss the problems in Syria and the situation in Yemen. Bilateral relations between Russia and the United States will be touched on," he said. 

 

Speaking about the possibility of discussing the sanctions, he suggested that it will take place. "The United States and its partners in Europe, especially Great Britain, are concerned about the situation that has developed in the EU countries, when there is a sufficiently serious outflow of Russian capital deployed in Europe. And in this respect I think that John Kerry will ask, figuratively speaking, the leadership of our country to influence this process," Gusev said.

At the same time, according to the expert, "there will not be a serious breakthrough." "You have to understand that John Kerry is only US Secretary of State, a Foreign Minister, he's not the president of the United States.