Defected general sees close U.S., Russia ‘understanding’ on Syria

A Syrian defected general said Russia and the United States are coming close to an agreement that would put an end to the violence in Syria.

Brigadier general Manaf Talas met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Friday to discuss a resolution to the Syrian conflict.

“I expect major progress in the U.S.-Russia talks to save the Syrian people from their crisis and their plight,” Talas said.

“I anticipate this would be the beginning of a U.S.-Russian understanding for the interest of the Syrian people as a whole,” Talas said.

Talas told Al Arabiya that in order to find a solution, the United States and Russia need to be on the same level of agreement in order to put an end to the Syrian crisis.

“The Syrian people have suffered a lot and we have to listen to them. The President has to go,” said.

Talas was a member of the Baath Party and a brigadier general of the Syrian Republic Guard before he declared his defection in July 2012. He was considered to have close ties with the Assad regime and was labeled the president’s right hand.

On Friday Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama have told their foreign ministers to keep in close touch and seek “new initiatives” to end Syria's civil war, the Kremlin said after a telephone conversation between the two leaders.

The Kremlin said Putin and Obama also pledged to seek to avoid steps that would harm Russian-U.S. relations, which have been strained by differences over Syria and other issues including Putin's treatment of opponents since he began a new term as president last May.

The phone call took place three days after Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and new U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry discussed the Syrian crisis at a meeting in Berlin but signaled no breakthrough.

“The presidents have instructed (Lavrov and Kerry) to continue active contacts focused on working out possible new initiatives aimed at a political settlement of the crisis (in Syria),” the Kremlin said in a statement.

Senior U.S. and Russian diplomats have met repeatedly in recent months, along with U.N. Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, with little sign of progress toward a solution to the nearly two-year-old conflict that has killed more than 70,000 people.

They have long been at odds over the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The United States says he must go but Russia says his exit from power must not be a precondition for a negotiated settlement.