Kerry, Hagel to meet with Russia counterparts Friday

Despite U.S. President Barack Obama's cancellation of a G-20 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will still meet with their Russian counterparts on Friday. According to State Department Spokesperson Jennifer Psaki, who confirmed the details on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu are expected to attend the one-day two-plus-two talks in Washington and discuss "everything from cooperation on Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, areas where we've worked closely together to disagreements on missile defense, arms control and human rights." Psaki also said Syria will be high on the agenda, particularly "efforts to build momentum towards Geneva and their agreement that a political solution to the crisis is the right step to end the bloodshed." "We have an important relationship with Russia," she added. "There are areas like missile defines and human rights, certainly Edward Snowden, where we have disagreements, and those will part of the discussion as well."