Washington hopes Russian President Vladimir Putin will back a deal to restore the ceasefire that the UN Security Council had already endorsed in February, only for it to fall apart.
Advertisement
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan urged world leaders at the G20 meeting in China to set up a “safe zone” in Syria.
Gatilov did not rule out the participation of United Nations special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura in the upcoming talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry in Geneva. Negotiations between Kerry and Lavrov, aimed at a plan to increase military cooperation between the United States and Russian Federation so that terrorists in Syria are better targeted and civilian casualties are reduced, have not yet succeeded.
The Turkish president also said he was working with US -led coalition forces and Russian Federation to establish a ceasefire in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo before the Eid al-Adha religious holiday expected to start around September 11.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of a G20 summit in China, where Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the U.S. and Russian Federation to establish a no-fly zone over northern Syria and to push for a new ceasefire in the key city of Aleppo in the coming days.
The State Department indicated no agreement on major sticking points – blaming Russian Federation for USA obstructionism, saying Moscow “walked back on some of the areas we were agreed on, so we are” continuing discussions.
The official said Obama raised concerns about cybersecurity issues with Putin, but would not detail the discussions.
On Sunday, cautious optimism prevailed that a deal could be struck between Washington and Moscow, long at odds over policy in Syria.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must leave power after six months of negotiations on a transitional government, opposition negotiator Riyad Hijab said on Wednesday in London as he presented his group’s road map for peace in Syria.
An estimated 11 million Syrians have fled their homes since the war broke out in 2011.
Their membership includes Syrian groups ranging from Damascus-based oppositionists to moderate armed groups.
“Who is he?”, the fiery new President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, asked Monday at a news conference, referring to Obama.
Officials hope a ceasefire will help advance talks on a political transition that would lead to the resignation of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
In private, USA diplomats have characterized the negotiations with their Russian counterparts as a litmus test on whether there is a seriousness by Moscow to reach an accord, or if the Russians are buying time that results in Obama and Kerry being portrayed as hapless negotiators. “To the extent that there are children and women and innocent civilians who can get food and medical supplies and, you know, get some relief from the constant terror of bombings, that’s worth the effort”. Obama says “we have deep commitments” to account for those lost during the war.
U.S. officials have never publicly confirmed what Kerry had in mind when he floated the idea of a Plan B for Syria in Congressional hearings earlier this year.
This week’s interaction between the two men could be a final attempt to salvage what’s become one of the most acrimonious relationships on the global stage.
But Duterte said if Obama questioned him about extrajudicial killings, he would swear at him.
Advertisement
“If the Russians and Americans can together create a ceasefire, then the talks can restart in Geneva with the difference, perhaps, that all sides will by then have seen at least the scaffolding of a post-Assad Syria”.
