The White House said it has “significant doubt” that the Russians will uphold their end of a U.S.-Russian cease-fire agreement aimed at reducing violence in Syria for a seven-day period to allow for humanitarian aid deliveries.
“There remains significant doubt inside the administration and around the world about the capacity and willingness of the Russians to fulfill the responsibilities they have accepted in this arrangement,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday. “That skepticism is entirely reasonable given the way we have seen the Russian and the [Bashar] Assad regime behave over the last year or so.”
Nevertheless, Earnest argued that it had little choice but to engage Russia to deal with the humanitarian situation in Syria.
“The president and the secretary of state have both spoken publicly about how deeply concerned” they are about the humanitarian situation in Syria, Earnest said. “Our efforts to engage diplomatically with the Russians is rooted in the knowledge that the Russians have more influence with the Assad regime than everyone else, and the Assad regime has been the impediment” in getting aid workers in to help those in need.
If the agreement holds and all parties abide by it, U.S. and Russian militaries would for the first time begin to coordinate airstrikes against Nusra Front and Islamic State militants, a decision that is causing tensions between the Pentagon and the White House and State Department.
Earnest brushed aside questions about the disagreements between Pentagon officials and other members of the national security team about the decision to coordinate militarily with the Russians.
“When the president discusses complicated issues like Syria for his national security team, he’s not looking for people who have the same opinion … what the president is looking for is informed experts who can make an argument that advances the interests of the United States,” he said.
