State Department confirms Kerry to meet with Lavrov next week

{mosads}Kerry is likely to bring up Russia’s continued support for Syrian President Bashar Assad and probe Russia’s appetite for further cuts in the two countries’ nuclear arsenals. Russia however wants their talk to focus on the rights of adopted Russian children, Russia Today reports, following the death of another adopted Russian child, in New Mexico, last month; Russia recently banned further adoptions by American couples, sparking outrage on Capitol Hill.

“I spoke with Sergei Lavrov just before coming here, and he asked me to stress that this issue, primarily the death of Maxim Kuzmin, will be among the key issues on the agenda of his negotiations with Kerry scheduled for next week,” Russian Human Rights Commissioner Konstantin Dolgov told Russian lawmakers on Thursday.