Philadelphia
Top Democratic lawmakers are joining a chorus of defense and intelligence officials in expressing their doubts about Secretary of State John Kerry’s plan to cooperate with Russia in Syria.
Kerry has been working on a proposal with Russian officials that includes sharing information and coordinating air attacks on al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, as well as preventing the Syrian government from striking rebels and civilians.
Defense officials have expressed doubts about the plan due to the Kremlin’s failure to live up to its promises in Syria, its repeated violation of ceasefire agreements there, and its support of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
“I share … the skepticism that others have raised about any ability to negotiate with the Russians some kind of a cooperative agreement in Syria,” California congressman Adam Schiff, ranking member of the House Intelligence committee, said Thursday at an event hosted by Politico. “I don’t trust them any further than you can throw them.”
Schiff said he was certain that the Kremlin would act out of self-interest before complying with a U.S. agreement.
“The Russians would breach any accord we reach, whenever it’s at all in their interest to do so,” he said.
The California congressman said he recognized Kerry’s efforts and the intentions behind them but ultimately rejected his underlying optimism.
“I understand the intent behind it, to diminish civilian casualties, to diminish the length of the war,” Schiff said. “I don’t believe the Russians can be a partner in that. I think they’ve done nothing but prolong the war.”
Delaware senator Chris Coons, a member on the Senate committee on Foreign Relations, also questioned Kerry’s plan.
“I am…deeply skeptical that we will be able to successfully negotiate any path forward,” Coons said.
Coons’s fellow Democratic senators urged caution in pursuing an agreement with Russia in interviews with THE WEEKLY STANDARD on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Coons said that Russia has been trying for years to “undermine and destabilize countries.” The Kremlin’s suspected breach of the Democratic party’s computer servers, he said, was only one example of Russia’s hostile activity.
“This isn’t a stray occurrence,” Coons said. “They are explicitly intervening in political campaigns. They are timing the disclosures of surreptitiously or covertly gathered information in order to influence the outcome of elections in other countries. They are making contributions to political parties. They are actively engaged in trying to destabilize NATO and western Europe.”
Thousands of emails from the Democratic National Committee were published by Wikileaks last Friday, some of which implicated officials in showing favoritism to Hillary Clinton despite claims of neutrality. The FBI is investigating whether the hack was Russian-borne.
Some have claimed that the breach was an attempt to sway the U.S. election in favor of Donald Trump. The Republican businessman has espoused policies that would be favorable to Russia, including conditional support to NATO allies and “looking at” recognizing Kremlin-annexed Crimea as Russian territory.
