Kerry: Russia in Syria an 'opportunity'
John Kerry: Russia's involvement in Syria could be 'opportunity' for U.S.
Story highlights
- Secretary of State John Kerry called on Tuesday for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to leave as part an "orderly transition."
- "We need to have an orderly transition, a managed transition, so that you don't have a fear for retribution, loss of life, revenge," Kerry said.
Washington (CNN)Secretary
of State John Kerry on Tuesday called Russian President Vladimir
Putin's involvement in Syria a possible "opportunity" for the United
States.
Kerry predicted, in an
interview with CNN's Elise Labott, that Russia's presence in Syria means
Moscow could find itself in a "complicated" situation that could affect
its policy toward the war-torn country and its leader, President Bashar
al-Assad.
"If he's going to side with
Assad and with Iran and Hezbollah, he's going to have a very serious
problem with the Sunni countries in the region," Kerry said of Putin.
"That means he ... could very well become a target for those Sunni
jihadists."
Kerry explained: "It's an
opportunity for us to force this question of how you actually resolve
the question of Syria. And the bottom line is, you cannot resolve it
without including the Sunni(s) in a political solution, a political
agreement ultimately, and that will mean that you're going to have to
have some kind of transition, some kind of timing. Because as long as
Assad is there, you simply can't make peace. Period."
Kerry
also said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must leave as part of
an "orderly transition," rather than calling for his immediate ouster,
marking a change in the U.S. position.
He
added that if Assad left more quickly, it could lead to an "implosion"
that would strip the country of any civil life. He added that Assad has a
"complete lack of legitimacy" as leader given that three-quarters of
Syrians "have already voted with their feet" by moving elsewhere from
Assad-ruled territory.
"We need to have
an orderly transition, a managed transition, so that you don't have a
fear for retribution, loss of life, revenge," Kerry said, urging a
leadership change over a "reasonable period of time" but declining to be
more specific.
Kerry also acknowledged
for the first time that the U.S. is having talks with Iran about a
possible prisoner swap. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also recently told CNN
that the two countries are talking, and laid out his terms for such a
deal. Iran and the U.S. recently struck a nuclear deal meant to curb the
Middle East country's nuclear ambitions.
"I
am hopeful that the day will come soon -- obviously sooner rather than
later -- but soon when all of our citizens can come home," he said.
The
current secretary of state also pushed back on criticisms that his
department has been slow to release works email from his predecessor,
Hillary Clinton, who maintained a private email server while working for
the State Department.
"We
cannibalized the different bureaus to bring people from those bureaus
and put them to work to help do this. But it takes an experienced eye to
read the cable and know whether or not it should or should not be
classified," Kerry said. "So that's what we're doing and I think we will
be ahead of the curve."
Kerry also
praised his staff for meticulously going through her work emails in
order to prevent classified information from being released.
"We
have an obligation to review what is classified information and what is
not. And if any other department in the government is mentioned in a
particular email it has to go to that department in order for them to be
able to clear it. So it's by nature a cumbersome process," he said,
twice declining to answer whether the exercise was a "sideshow."
Kerry is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly as the U.S. met with leaders from Iran and Cuba as well as Russia.
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