US, Russia To Hold Surprise Syria Meeting

(Dublin) – The top US and Russian diplomats will hold a surprise meeting with the United Nations’ peace envoy for Syria, signaling fresh hopes of an international breakthrough to end the Arab country’s 21-month civil war. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and mediator Lakhdar Brahimi will gather in Dublin on the sidelines of a human rights conference, a senior US official said.
Ahead of the three-way meeting,Clinton and Lavrov held a meeting for about 25 minutes. They agreed to hear Brahimi out on a path forward, the official said. The two also discussed issues ranging from Egypt to North Korea, as well as new congressional action aimed at Russian officials accused of complicity in the death of lawyer Sergey Magnitsky.