Obama: Putin unlikely to do ‘180 turn’

It’s unlikely that Russia will drop its support for Syrian President Bashar Assad any time soon, President Obama conceded Tuesday.

Obama’s comments at a global climate summit in Paris come one day after he urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to shift his strategy in Syria and back a political transition away from Assad.

{mosads}”I don’t expect that you’re going to see a 180 turn on their strategy in the next several weeks,” Obama said at a press conference. “They have invested for years now in keeping Assad in power. … That’s going to take some time for them to change how they think about the issue.” 

But Obama said he expects Russia would have to make a “shift in calculations” to avoid being pulled further into a deadly conflict in the Middle East, similar to its failed invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

“With Afghanistan fresh in the memory, for him to simply get bogged down in an inconclusive and paralyzing civil conflict is not the outcome that he’s looking for,” Obama said.  

Concerns about terrorism and the Syrian civil war have cast a cloud over Obama’s appearance at the Pais climate conference. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for a recent string of terror attacks in the city that left 130 people dead.

In response to the attacks, Obama has pledged the U.S. will intensify its military campaign against ISIS while urging Putin to focus his country’s airstrikes in Syria against ISIS forces instead of the rebels fighting Assad.

The president voiced optimism that ongoing talks in Vienna could result in a political transition that ushers Assad out of power. Obama said Russia’s participation in the talks is a sign they could change their stance on Assad in the next few months. 

“I am confident that we are on the winning side of this and that ultimately Russia is going to recognize the threat ISIL poses to its country, to its people, is the most significant, and they need to align themselves with those of us who are fighting ISIL,” he said, using an alternative acronym for the terrorist group. 

But those efforts have been complicated by a diplomatic spat between Turkey and Russia over the downing of a Russian warplane. 

Turkish forces last week shot down the jet, which Ankara said crossed into its airspace. Putin has denied the plane violated Turkish airspace and has accused Ankara of abetting ISIS. The Russian government imposed sanctions on Turkey in response to the incident.

Turkey is a NATO ally of the U.S. and a member of the American-led coalition fighting ISIS, and the incident could give Russia greater pause about cooperating with anti-ISIS force.

Obama huddled privately with Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the sidelines of the summit to focus on the common goal of fighting terrorism and to set aside tensions stemming from the plane incident.

“We all have a common enemy, and that is ISIL,” Obama said after meeting with Erdogan. “And I want to make sure that we focus on that threat, and I want to make sure that we remain focused on the need to bring about some sort of political resolution in Syria.”