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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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13Feb16
Kremlin: Obama called Putin to talk about Syrian ceasefire
President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to intensify diplomatic and military cooperation to implement a ceasefire and aid delivery in Syria, the Kremlin said early Sunday.
A statement from Putin's office said that Obama initiated a telephone conversation between the two, but did not say when it had occured. The White House made no initial comment.
The statement came amid unconfirmed reports that an initial shipment of humanitarian aid had reached the rebel-held Douma area, east of the Syrian capital of Damascus, which has been cut off by government troops since 2013. International powers supporting the two sides of Syria's civil war agreed Friday on a ceasefire and aid delivery to besieged areas.
The Syrian government news agency, SANA, said that the Syrian Red Crescent had delivered medicine and food.
Russia has agreed to stop bombardment of all but "terrorist" groups in Syria. U.S. and Russian teams are scheduled to meet early next week to delineate areas that will be off-limits to the Russian airstrikes, a task made difficult by differences of opinion on which rebel groups represent legitimate opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The deal calls for the ceasefire to start by Friday.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry, who negotiated the agreement with 16 other countries, including Assad-backers Russia and Iran, said Saturday that Russia must "change its targeting." Kerry visited the Albanian capital Sunday.
The Kremlin statement said that Putin and Obama had "emphasized the need to establish close working contacts" between Russian and U.S. military officials to fight the Islamic State "and other terrorist organizations."
During the telephone conversation with Obama, the Russian leader "again emphasized the importance of creating a united anti-terrorist front while giving up double standards," Putin's office said.
Since Russia began airstrikes in Syria last fall, the Obama administration has said that the vast majority of Russian bombs have fallen on U.S.-backed opposition forces rather than the Islamic State. The U.S. has resisted Russian entreaties to share intelligence and coordinate its own airstrikes against the Islamic State. American officials have said they would limit their defense cooperation with Russia to "deconflicting" flights in Syria's increasingly crowded air space.
Administration officials have said there will be no change in that policy until the ceasefire is in place and Russia demonstrates it has stopped bombing the opposition and is ready to support the anti-Islamic State campaign.
[Source: By Karen DeYoung, The Washington Post, Tirana, Alb, 13Feb16]
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