President Obama said Russian influence in Syria, post-Assad, doesn't hurt U.S. interests in an interview shown Sunday on ABC's This Week.
Obama said the Syrian crisis was not a contest between the U.S. and Russia and listed the areas where he and Russian president Vladimir Putin have worked together in spite of their strong disagreements on a variety of issues. The deal struck over the weekend where Syria would allow its chemical weapons stockpile to be removed or destroyed in the next year was hailed as a victory by the Assad regime and one that Rep. Mike Rogers (R., Mich.) called a "Russian deal for Russian interests."
Obama has taken heavy criticism for his indecisiveness on Syria, initially calling for a military strike, hedging on the red line he drew last year and then seen as trying to take credit for a Russian-brokered arrangement:
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But aren't you worried at all that Putin is playing for time and playing you?
OBAMA: Well you know, Ronald Reagan said, "Trust but verify." And I think that that’s always been the experience of– U.S. presidents when we’re interacting with– first, Soviet leaders, and now Russian leaders. You know, Mr. Putin and I have strong disagreements on a whole range of issues. But I can talk to him. We have worked together on important issues. The fact of the matter is– is that– we couldn’t be supplying all of our troops in Afghanistan if he weren’t helping us in transporting those supplies through the northern borders of Afghanistan.
So there are a whole range of areas where we currently work together. We’ve worked together on counterterrorism operations. And so you know, this is not the Cold War. This is not a contest between the United States and Russia. I mean the fact of the matter is that if Russia wants to have some influence in Syria, post-Assad, that doesn’t hurt our interests.
I know that sometimes this gets framed or looked at through the lens of the U.S. versus Russia. But that’s not what this is about. What this is about is how do we make sure that we don’t have the worst weapons in the hands, either of a murderous regime, or in the alternative, some elements of the opposition, that are as opposed to the United States, as they are to Assad.