Assad can stay, for now: Kerry accepts Russian stance

A number of steps have been agreed upon at negotiations with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to make the fight against ISIS (a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia) more coordinated and efficient, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.

“The United States and our partners are not seeking so-called regime change”, Kerry told reporters in the Russian capital after meeting President Vladimir Putin.

“We support the idea of convening in NY another meeting of the International Syria Support Group at the ministerial levels this Friday”, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after earlier talks with Kerry at Kremlin.

He was accompanied by Victoria Nuland, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs; Celeste Wallander, a senior official with the National Security Council; and the US ambassador to Russia, John Tefft.

Tuesday’s Moscow talks touched too on the creation of a new Saudi-led Islamic alliance to fight terrorism which will share information and train, equip and provide forces if necessary for the fight against Islamic State group.

Read also The war against ISIS in Syria: the flawless opportunity for a “reset” of US-Russia relations?

But after a day of discussions with Assad’s key global backer, Kerry said the focus now is “not on our differences about what can or cannot be done immediately about Assad”.

Urging more action to fulfill Minsk accords and finally solve the crisis, Kerry said all parties to the conflict bear responsibility for the Minsk deal implementation.

Kerry said Friday at a press conference in Greece that the exact circumstances of Assad’s departure were negotiable, but that his status would have to be settled before the war could end.

“Russia’s military elements have been acting for some time as if there is a perceived threat from Turkey, which is an exaggerated situation and has nothing to do with reality”, Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic said at a briefing.

But al-Assad’s two close allies, Russian Federation and Iran, have said his political fate should be up to Syrians to decide.

He did not give details of the requests but said different countries’ contributions could include strike aircraft, intelligence flights, transport aircraft, help in controlling borders and helping United States efforts to train troops.

“We don’t seek to isolate Russian Federation as a matter of policy, no”, Kerry said.

Russia, in contrast, has held to the same line since the beginning: Outside governments, according to Russia, have no say in determining internal sovereignty in Syria.

The US, which is leading a coalition bombing Isil, says the Kremlin is mainly attacking other groups opposed to Assad, including some supported by the administration in Washington. Representatives of Syria’s opposition themselves hope this week to finalize their negotiating team for talks with Assad’s government.