Source: The Washington Post
JAKARTA, Indonesia \u2014 Secretary of State John Kerry accused Russia and Iran on Monday of effectively undermining Syrian peace talks by stepping up military support and aid to the government in Damascus and allowing President Bashar Assad to stonewall while he tries to \u201cdouble down\u201d on a military victory.<\/p>\n
Last week\u2019s meetings in Geneva ended with no progress toward ending the Syrian civil war, and Kerry put the blame entirely on the government\u2019s side.<\/p>\n
The opposition had offered a viable road map to move the negotiations forward and create a transitional government, moving along a path agreed to by all sides in previous talks, Kerry said, speaking in the Indonesian capital on a trip to Asia and the Middle East.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the regime stonewalled,\u201d Kerry said. \u201cThey did nothing, except continue to double down on arms against their own people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Assad\u2019s negotiating team had \u201crefused to open up one moment of discussion\u201d during the talks on the issue of a transitional government, Kerry said. \u201cIt is very clear that Bashar al-Assad is continuing to try to win this on the battlefield rather than to come to the negotiating table with good faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russia rejected the charges.<\/p>\n
At a news conference in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described \u201cevidence that certain sponsors of the opposition are starting to create a new structure\u201d that would include foes of Assad who were outside the main opposition group, according to the Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cA course is being set to move away from the negotiations track and once again place bets on a military scenario,\u201d Lavrov said.<\/p>\n
He said Russia had fulfilled its obligations by getting Assad\u2019s government to attend the talks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we hear that Russia must take some steps, it\u2019s necessary to remember one simple truth: We have done everything we promised,\u201d Lavrov said, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n
In a statement released Sunday night in Jakarta, Kerry also condemned the Assad government for continuing its \u201cbarbaric assault\u201d on the civilian population of Syria with barrel bombs and starvation and for adding some of the opposition delegates at Geneva to a terrorist list and seizing their assets. \u201cThis is reprehensible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Although Russia publicly supports the idea of a transitional government, Kerry said he regretted that increased support for Assad from Iran, Hezbollah and Russia had encouraged his intransigence.<\/p>\n
\u201cRussia needs to be a part of the solution, not contributing so many more weapons and so much more aid that they are really enabling Assad to double down,\u201d Kerry said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Source: The Washington PostJAKARTA, Indonesia — Secretary of State John Kerry accused Russia and Iran on Monday of effectively undermining Syrian peace talks by stepping up military support and aid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-16007","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-iran-a-world","7":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n