Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Josh Earnest en route Greensboro, NC, 10/11/2016

On Russia, Vladimir Putin just cancelled a trip planned to France later this month. French President François Hollande answered by saying he was always ready to talk with Mr. Putin in order to advance peace. I was wondering whether the President sees it as -- is there value for him to interact directly with President Putin at this stage regarding Syria, be it over the phone or meeting him? Is there a value there?

MR. EARNEST: Well, let me start by saying that when we talked about this situation a little bit last week in the briefing room, you heard me highlight a variety of examples that indicate how Russia is increasingly isolated from the rest of the international community because of the way they have handled the situation inside of Syria. And the most apt comparison is, when you look at President Putin’s participation at the 2015 U.N. General Assembly, he came and gave a much ballyhooed speech, he had a bilateral meeting with President Obama, and he discussed the constructive role that Russia was prepared to play in resolving the situation inside of Syria, particularly with regard to confronting extremist elements inside of Syria.

A year later, in 2016, we haven’t seen dramatic changes in terms of the situation on the ground. We know that Russia’s efforts have been primarily focused on shoring up the Assad regime. And they have not had a lot of success, thus far at least, in rolling back territory that had previously been held by opposition groups. 

We have, over the course of the last year, made significant gains against extremist elements inside of Syria, but that’s because of the work of the United States and our coalition partners, not because of the work that has been done by the Russians. Russia’s efforts, to the extent that they are focused on extremists, have not been coordinated with the broader coalition. And, like I said, most of their efforts have been focused on shoring up the Assad regime a year later that has put Russia in a position in which they are isolated from the rest of the international community. President Putin didn’t even come to attend the U.N. General Assembly, let alone attempt to speak. 

And I cite all of this because I think we’ve got another good example. President Putin was planning to come to France to dedicate a new church. But he cancelled those plans after learning that President Hollande was eager to engage in a conversation about what could be done to address the violence inside of Syria. That comes on the heels, of course, of a French-sponsored resolution at the U.N. Security Council being blocked by a Russian veto.

So Russia stands alone -- or at least they stand alone with countries like Iran, the Assad regime, and Venezuela -- in trying to justify their actions inside of Syria. The rest of the international community is gravely concerned about the tactics that they have used, including the targeting of civilians, the targeting of hospitals, and their support for an Assad regime that uses chlorine as a weapon, and other tactics like barrel bombs that are having a devastating impact on civilian populations inside of Syria. All of that has hurt President Putin’s personal standing in the international community. It’s also isolated Russia in a way that has not been beneficial to their economy or to a wide array of their national security interests. And again, I think the cancelling of his trip to France is further evidence of that.

Had President Putin decided to follow through on his trip to France, and had President Hollande raised, both in public and in private, the international community’s concerns with Russia’s actions inside of Syria, we would have had no objection to that. But President Putin avoided that scenario by canceling his trip altogether. And it’s an indication of the weakened position from which he’s operating in.

Q   Just from President Obama’s perspective, does he believe this is not the right time for him to engage directly with Vladimir Putin on Syria?

MR. EARNEST: Again, we would have no objection to a French conversation like that. As you know, Secretary Kerry continues to engage with his Russian counterpart bilaterally. There are also a range of conversations that are taking place in a variety of multilateral settings that involve the Russians, including at the U.N. Security Council and the International Syria Support Group that had a meeting in Europe last week. That’s another multilateral effort that includes the United States, Russia, and other regional actors that have a direct interest in the situation in Syria.

So our multilateral engagement continues. What has changed with regard to our conversations with Russia is that we're no longer engaged in efforts to try to resuscitate a cessation of hostilities in exchange for U.S. military cooperation, because it was quite clear that Russia was either unable or unwilling to live up to their end of the bargain, to exercise influence with the Assad regime and reduce violence inside of Syria.