The United States and Russia agree on "some fundamental principles" for Syria, the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday, adding that he plans to meet again with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday.
"There was agreement that Syria should be a unified country, united, that it needs to be secular, that ISIL (Islamic State) needs to be taken on, and that there needs to be a managed transition," Kerry told MSNBC, adding that differences remained on what the outcome of such a transition would be.
Speaking in the television interview from New York amid the United Nations gathering this week, Kerry said both U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin are both "looking for a way forward" in Syria, suffering from a four-year civil war as well as the rise of Islamic State.