- Tue Dec 15, 2015 3:23 pm
#65737
MOSCOW (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday accepted Russia's long-standing demand that President Bashar Assad's future be determined by his own people, as Washington and Moscow edged toward putting aside years of disagreement over how to end Syria's civil war.
"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. A major international conference on Syria would take place later this week in New York, Kerry announced.
Kerry's declarations crystallized the evolution in U.S. policy on Assad over the last several months, as the Islamic State group's growing influence in the Middle East has taken priority.
President Barack Obama first called on Assad to leave power in the summer of 2011, with "Assad must go and he will go, sooner than later" being Obama's consistent rallying cry.
Appearing beside Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hailed what he described as a "big negotiating day," saying the sides advanced efforts to define what a Syrian transition process might look like with Assad remaining in power.
The world is better off when Russia and the U.S. work together, he added, calling Obama and Putin's current cooperation a "sign of maturity," Kerry stressed.
- By johnforbes
- By brandon