Kerry has pointedly avoided new bilateral negotiations with Lavrov, and his invitation to the Turkish, Saudi, Qatari and Iranian foreign ministers to join them for talks in the Swiss lakeside town of Lausanne will broaden the discussion to include the most powerful backers of Syria's government and rebels.
"I don't know that I would expect any breakthroughs. I would just say that we're working to get this multilateral effort and approach to Syria up and running," US State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in Washington.