Russia and the US reiterated their commitment to bringing the sides of the Syrian conflict to the negotiating table, and have announced an international conference to be called by the end of May which will serve as a follow-up to the Geneva communiqué.

The two countries agreed on the need to convene talks “as soon as possible” and said they would aim to build on a transition plan set out last year in Geneva.

Speaking after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other officials, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that plan “should not be a piece of paper”, but rather “the roadmap” for peace.

Mr Kerry, who arrived in Moscow on Tuesday for crucial talks aimed at shifting Russia’s stance on Syria, said the goal is still to bring the Assad regime and opposition representatives together for talks on an interim government.

The Geneva plan was an agreement in June last year on the need for a transitional government in Syria, but the opposing sides have disagreed on how to implement it, and critically as to whether Syrian President Bashar al Assad would need to step down first.

In his first visit to Russia since becoming Secretary of State, Mr Kerry emphasised the need for the two countries to work together on the issue and insisted they shared common ground.

He said: “The United States believes that we share some very significant common interests with respect to Syria: Stability in the region, not having extremists creating problems throughout the region and elsewhere.”

For his part, Mr Putin reportedly kept Mr Kerry waiting three hours for their meeting at the Kremlin, fiddled with his pen while his guest spoke, and made no mention of Syria in his own public remarks.

Russia has vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions proposing sanctions on the regime and remains emphatically opposed to any suggestion of military intervention in the conflict.

Its Foreign Ministry expressed serious concerns on Monday at what Moscow said were signs that international public opinion was being prepared for the possibility of armed intervention and said it was examining reported Israeli air strikes near Damascus on May 3 and 5.

Russia has warned that further military action in the country could destabilise the region, and pointed to claims that Syrian rebel forces have used the nerve agent sarin against civilians in the country.

Mr Kerry’s visit coincides with the first anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin, in a year that has seen relations between the two countries strained on a number of fronts, not least US criticism of Russia’s record on human rights.

But the US Secretary of State said the two countries could co-operate on other issues, and that Mr Obama was looking forward to a planned meeting with the Russian leader at the G8 summit next month.

John Kerry said: “He (Mr Obama) is looking forward to seeing you on the side of the G8 in Ireland and would reiterate that there are many issues, economic, economic cooperation, the challenges of North Korea, Iran, Syria and many other issues on which he believes that we could cooperate very significantly.”

President Putin did not mention Syria in his televised remarks, but talked in general terms about the need to work together.

He said: “We recently had a substantial phone conversation with President Obama. And we had an opportunity to discuss many aspects of our relations.

“I think it is very important that our key ministries, our foreign ministries and agencies, work together to resolve the acutest issues of the modern world.”

Gone was the optimistic talk of a “re-set” in US-Russian relations that characterised the American approach to the Kremlin during Barack Obama’s first term.

In its place seems to have emerged a more pragmatic approach to the areas of common interest between the two countries, not least counter-terrorism in the wake of the Boston bombings.

Sergei Markov, a former United Russia member of parliament, now vice-chancellor of Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, told the visit was an opportunity to improve relations between the pair.

He said: “At the moment Russian-American relations are very bad, but both presidents do want to improve the situation. This is a new stage.

“The fact that the Secretary of State is meeting the president is not unusual – the secretary is a messenger of the president, so it is really is a dialogue between presidents.”

But Mr Markov warned the chances of a breakthrough on Syria were slim.

He said: “There are very small chances to reach a deal on Syria, because there are too many contradictions in their positions.

“Russia has military interests in Syria: it has a military base there and several arms contracts. The US seems to have found the only country with which we have a good relationship in the region – there are countries with a worse democratic record in the region – why doesn’t the US meddle in their internal politics?

“Russia opposes the changing of regimes by force. If the US changes the regime in Syria, they might want to do the same with Iran, and then who is next, Belarus? Russiadoesn’t want this.”

[adrotate banner=”29″]