The State Department on Tuesday refused to explain why the U.S. and Russia apparently got close to a breakthrough deal on Syria over the weekend, only to watch it slip away with talk of more time being needed to negotiate.
“I’m not going to get into the details of what happened, except to say that we continue to have this discussion with Russia on how to put in place a stronger nationwide cessation of hostilities that will allow humanitarian aid to access all besieged areas,” said department spokesman Mark Toner.
“We continue to work at that with Russia,” he added. “We’re not there yet, we’re not resolved.”
But Toner indicated the U.S. is pushing for more clarity on which parties would be involved in ensuring a real cease fire takes place in Syria. The Obama administration has said for months that Russia is attacking moderate Syria opposition groups, which runs contrary to the U.S. plan to build up that opposition and give them a seat at the table in talks about the country’s future.
“We continue to feel like we’re making progress, and believe we’re making progress on some of the remaining issues,” he said. “But we’re not gonna settle, and we feel like … given the importance of this arrangement that we’re seeking, and the impact of this arrangement that we’re seeking, we believe it’s absolutely essential that we get a clear understanding of the way forward.”
Toner said he expects Secretary of State John Kerry to meet again with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov “very soon,” but couldn’t say a new meeting was set for this week. “I just can’t say definitively,” he said.
President Obama met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday for 90 minutes in China, where it was hoped a deal might be struck. But Obama said there are still “gaps of trust” the U.S. has with Russia.
“Given the gaps of trust that exist, that’s a tough negotiation, and we haven’t yet closed the gaps in a way where we think it would actually work,” Obama said.
