Amb. Power: Russia ‘Bitten Off More than It Can Chew’ in Syria

WOODRUFF: “Well, from a diplomatic point of view, can an anti-ISIS coalition succeed if the countries in the region around Syria, around Iraq are themselves not committed? I’m speaking about Russia and Turkey.”

POWER: “Well, certainly, we need everybody committed. And I think, in Turkey, you have seen more of a stepped-up effort, an accelerated effort in recent weeks as the ISIL threat has come home with the killing of hundreds of Turkish citizens, tragically. You have seen a stepped-up effort that we’re doing together in terms of closing off that last stretch of the Turkish border. That’s a really important operation and needs to be completed. You have seen more arrests. And in Russia, of course, you have the fact that ISIL claimed responsibility for planting a bomb that killed so many Russian innocent civilians, but you still have Russian airpower being deployed mainly against moderate opposition groups and mainly, it seems, with an intention of propping up the Assad regime. So, a lot more progress needs to be made there. I will say that the fact that the Vienna process to bring about a political solution for Syria has made the progress it has, I think, suggests that Russia is beginning to realize also that it’s bitten off more than it can chew on the ground and that the effect of hitting — not really hitting ISIL and hitting these other groups isn’t really working. They have taken very little territory, even though they’re bombing like crazy. And so we’re hopeful that their engagement in the Vienna process around a political transition and the constant dialogue about who is ISIL, who is the real threat to Russian citizens, to American citizens and to citizens around the world, that we will be able to narrow those gaps that have not been helpful, as you say.”