US Secretary of State John Kerry and Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel sat down with their Russian counterparts in Washington on Friday for talks amid heightened tension over Moscow's granting of asylum to US whistleblower Edward Snowden, according to dpa. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergei Shoygu were at the State Department for the previously planned meetings. President Barack Obama has already called off a bilateral meeting with President Vladimir Putin next month over the Snowden affair. "The relationship between the United States and Russia is, needless to say, a very important relationship, and it is marked by shared interests and, at times, colliding and conflicting interests," Kerry said as talks got underway. "Now, I think we're all very clear-eyed about that," he said. "Sergei Lavrov and I are old hockey players, and we both know that diplomacy, like hockey, can sometimes result in the occasional collision. So we're candid, very candid, about the areas in which we agree, but also the areas in which we disagree." Kerry said the Snowden case was among the "challenging moments" the countries had recently experienced, amid other disagreements on Syria and human rights. He said there was not always agreement on Syria, but that both nations agreed that "to avoid institutional collapse and descent into chaos, the ultimate answer is a negotiated political solution." Lavrov said Syria was at the top of the meeting's agenda, and that Washington and Moscow shared the goal of resolving the conflict through a political process. Pointing to disagreements, Lavrov said the sides must continue to discuss matters calmly and candidly. "We need to work as grown-ups. And this is what we do. And we hope that this will be reciprocal," he said. The so-called two plus two format - bringing together the top diplomatic and defence officials from the United States and Russia - was last held in 2007. There had been doubts that the meeting would go ahead, after Russia granted Snowden temporary asylum. The former intelligence contractor and admitted leaker of secret US surveillance programmes, is wanted in the US to face espionage charges.
