Obama says he’s hopeful Kerry’s talks with Russian will yield results on Syria

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says he is hopeful Secretary of State John Kerry’s meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov can “yield a concrete result” on Syria.

Kerry opened two days of meeting with his Russian counterpart in Geneva Thursday. The two hope to settle on the outlines of a plan to secure and destroy Syrian chemical weapons stockpiles.

Obama made his remarks at the beginning of a Cabinet meeting at the White House. The U.S.-Russia talks offer a potential path to avoid U.S. strikes against the Syrian government for a chemical attack on civilians last month that the U.S. blames on Syrian President Bashar Assad.