Obama says Russia may finally come around on Assad's future
PARIS - US President Barack Obama expressed optimism Tuesday that Russia will ultimately come around on the need for Syrian President Bashar Assad to leave power to end his country's long civil war, but warned the turn-around would not come overnight.
Obama's remarks on the sidelines of global climate talks came as the US continues to press Russia to focus its airstrikes in Syria against IS, rather than on US-backed rebel groups fighting Assad. Obama said it was possible over the coming months that Russia would undergo a "shift in calculations" and back away from its support for Assad.
"I don't expect that you're going to see a 180-degree turn on their strategy over the next several weeks," Obama said. "They have invested for years now in keeping Assad in power. Their presence there is predicated on propping him up. That's going to take some time for them to change how they think about the issue."
Obama said he expects that diplomatic negotiations in Vienna to pursue a political solution to Syria's civil war will move forward at the same time that the US-led coalition applies greater pressure to defeat IS.
