Russia's Lavrov says Syria meeting in New York on Friday is on

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talks with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after a joint news conference at the Kremlin in Moscow December 15, 2015. REUTERS/Mandel Ngan/Pool

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday after talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that a meeting of world powers on Syria pencilled in for New York on Friday would go ahead. It had previously been unclear whether the meeting would happen after Russia said certain preconditions would have to be met beforehand amid differences between Moscow and Washington over the role of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in any political transition and over which rebel groups should be part of peace talks. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton and Jack Stubbs; Editing by by Andrew Osborn)