John Kerry intensifies pressure over Syria

Wants to ‘get down to brass tacks’ with Putin on Assad’s future

US Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to press president Vladimir Putin on how Russia sees a future political transition in Syria and the fate of president Bashar al-Assad.

With a fragile truce in place in Syria and warring sides attending peace talks in Geneva, Kerry wants to “get down to brass tacks” on the question of Assad’s future, a State Department official said.