US 'Not Seeking Regime Change in Syria', John Kerry Says After Meeting With Russian President [View all]

[Purveyor]

Source: ABC NEWS

By PATRICK REEVELL MOSCOW — Dec 15, 2015, 4:49 PM ET


Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) welcomes US Secretary of State John Kerry during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on Dec. 15, 2015.

Following lengthy talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow today, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said the United States is not seeking regime change in Syria and that the U.S. sees the conflict there "in fundamentally the same way."

“The United States and its partners are not seeking regime change in Syria,” Kerry said in a news conference inside the Kremlin, before immediately adding that the U.S. continues to believe that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has no possibility of remaining the country’s leader in the future.

However, the statement appeared to be the most explicit sign yet that the U.S. is softening its policy towards Assad and marked a significant rhetorical shift for the U.S. towards Russia’s policy in Syria, which previously American officials have said was almost fundamentally at odds with their own.

Washington had been insisting Assad must step down immediately, although recently U.S. officials have suggested that he could remain in power during a transition period. Kerry’s efforts to shift the discussion away from Assad’s personal future, seemed to bring the U.S. closer to Moscow’s position that real peace talks might be able to begin prior to Assad’s removal.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/john-kerry-meets-russian-president-vladimir-putin-seek/story?id=35782171