Russia is very successful in Syria militarily, the US Special Representative for the SAR James Jeffrey told a video conference of the Hudson Institute, RIA Novosti reports.
"They are, indeed, very successful in the military sense in Syria. The problem is that there is no political way out because of the problems with (President Bashar) Assad. Our job is to present them with a way forward through the UN, with the support of the UN. But this requires that they distance themselves to some extent from Assad and the Iranians," he said, in particular.
Russia, according to Jeffrey, has key interests in Syria — maintaining military bases, as well as protecting its economic investments.
In addition, as Jeffrey said, Russia believes that limited military involvement in Syria helps it achieve major strategic successes.
At the video conference, Jeffrey was asked how to "drive a wedge between Assad and the Russians" and whether to believe reports that Assad has recently caused discontent in Moscow.
"We believe that these reports are correct. We have been talking to the Russians for the past year. The Russians are dissatisfied with Assad. The problem is that they do not see an alternative, " the politician said.
Russia and the United States support the peace process in Syria under the auspices of the UN. The United States, however, has been demanding the resignation of Syrian President Assad since 2011 and has been conducting a military operation in Syria and Iraq against ISIL (banned in Russia) since 2014, acting in Syria without the permission of the country's authorities.
Jeffrey also touched upon the issue of relations between Russia and Turkey during his speech at the video conference. Washington, according to him, believes that the issue of Ankara's acquisition of Russian S-400 air defense systems remains the main irritant in relations between the two countries.
"The s-400 is a huge issue... this is an exceptionally complex issue, because it concerns the largest investment in the defense of the United States and its allies since WWII — the F-35 fighter jet. Turkey's actions undermine the potential of this fighter… The two sides were at a standstill on this issue. This is the biggest problem. Otherwise, we get along quite well with Turkey on most issues, including Libya, NATO, the Caucasus-Black sea region, Syria and Iraq," said Jeffrey.
Russia supplied Turkey with the latest S-400 air defense systems in 2019. Washington demanded to abandon the deal and instead purchase American Patriot complexes, threatening to delay or cancel the sale of the latest F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, as well as impose sanctions. Ankara refused to make concessions and continued negotiations on an additional batch of S-400s.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: XU JINQUAN \ POOL \ EPA \ TASS