AAA Jun. 22, 2013 7:53 AM ET Kerry: Russia must back transition in Syria By DEB RIECHMANNBy DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press U.S. Ambassador to Qatar Susan Ziadeh, left, walks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, second from left, and Ambassador Ibrahim Fakhroo, Qatari Chief of Protocol, on Kerry's arrival in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday, June 22, 2013. Kerry began the overseas trip plunging into two thorny foreign policy problems facing the Obama administration: unrelenting bloodshed in Syria and efforts to talk to the Taliban and find a political resolution to the war in Afghanistan. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, walks through the airport with Ambassador Ibrahim Fakhroo, Qatari Chief of Protocol, left, after being greeted on arrival in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday, June 22, 2013. Kerry began an overseas trip plunging into two thorny foreign policy problems facing the Obama administration: unrelenting bloodshed in Syria and efforts to talk to the Taliban and find a political resolution to the war in Afghanistan. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, not pictured, is secured in his vehicle on arrival in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday, June 22, 2013. Kerry is expected to attend a meeting of the London 11. The Secretary has begun the overseas trip with two thorny foreign policy problems facing the Obama administration: unrelenting bloodshed in Syria and efforts to talk to the Taliban and find a political resolution to the war in Afghanistan. DOHA, Qatar (AP) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is pressing hard on Russia to back an international conference intended to end the bloodshed in Syria and allow a transitional government to move the country beyond civil war. Kerry met with officials from nearly a dozen countries on Saturday in Doha (DOH'-hah), Qatar (GUH'-tur), to discuss aid to the Syrian opposition and push forward on a political resolution to the crisis, which has claimed more than 93,000 lives. Russia has been the key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime throughout the two-year conflict. Kerry says top U.S. diplomats are ready to go to Geneva to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (SEHR'-gay LAHV'-rahf) and other officials in coming days to advance the political process.