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U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov offered starkly different
views of the Syrian civil war Tuesday, after meeting at NATO headquarters.
The United States wants
Russia to convince Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, but Russia
refuses. Secretary Kerry tried to downplay the differences.
“There's a difference
of opinion between Russia and the United States with respect to when or how
Assad might leave. I don't think there's a difference of opinion that his
leaving may either be inevitable or necessary to be able to have a solution,”
Kerry said.
But Russia says the
shape of a Syrian political settlement must be decided by the Syrians
themselves, including President Assad. At a news conference, Foreign Minister
Lavrov accused Western nations of blocking a series of peace efforts, and
said if that continues, Syria could come under the control of radical
Islamists.
“Over the last months,
there is a growing understanding of real threats we will all face if this
status quo maintains, if all efforts to build dialogue will be hindered and
blocked by the minority of the international community, which is very
aggressive and very bloodthirsty,” Lavrov said.
Lavrov said there is a
growing feeling among Russia's allies that efforts to resolve the Syrian
conflict are failing, and he called on all “international players” to bring the
Syrian parties to the negotiating table.
Secretary Kerry said he
and Minister Lavrov did agree to keep talking about the issue, and he indicated
some new ideas are on the table.
“Foreign Minister
Lavrov and I talked about a number of different ways in which one might try to
figure out if you could create a reality to this diplomatic initiative. And
we're both going to go back. We're going to explore those possibilities. And
we're going to talk again about if any of those other avenues could conceivably
be pursued,” Kerry said.
Those avenues do not
include Western military intervention. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh
Rasmussen said Tuesday the Syrian war could cause security problems for the
region, and beyond. But he said no one is calling for NATO to play any direct
role in the crisis.
Sources :
http://www.voanews.com/content/russia-us-syria-assad/1647371.html
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