Secretary of State John Kerry discussed Russia’s intervention in Syria when he stepped before a packed auditorium Thursday. He was at Indiana University for the opening of a school of international studies.
Russian warplanes are backing the government of Bahsar al-Assad, entering the third week of strikes against mainly the rebel forces.
The U.S. has struggled to find forces that can oppose Assad as well as the Islamic State.
After the speech, Kerry spoke of the Russia’s involvement in Syria and said; “If they’re supporting Assad, they’re going to attract great difficulties for themselves and for any hope of a unified, secular Syria.”
“Putin does not have a simple, easy track here,” Kerry said. “This is not a situation where he’s just moved in and taken over and everybody says, “Oh wow, he’s doing something we couldn’t.” No, he’s not. He is not going to be able to stop the war by being there.”

On whether the United States is doing enough to help U.S.-backed Syrians who are now being attacked by Russian aircraft, Kerry said:

We are now having that discussion with the Russians right now. I talked to my counterpart today, to (Foreign Minister) Sergey Lavrov. We raised the issue of this “deconfliction” process. We’re very near coming to an agreement on exactly how that will work, and my hope is that it will lead to a broader set of understandings about where the targeting ought to be and what is truly helpful and what is not.

On the goals of the “deconfliction” talks with Lavrov, and whether they will go beyond the goal of keeping U.S. and Russian warplanes out of conflict with each other, the secretary added:

That’s the immediate, that’s the short-term, de minimus deconfliction, but it is possible, that if you have adequate cooperation on the early steps of this horrible word “deconfliction,” then it may be possible to actually engage in a broader conversation about how ISIL is going to be defeated, and who will bear what responsibility.

On Russia’s goals in Syria, he said:

Syria will crumble under the weight of a prolonged war. Putin does not have a simple, easy track here. This is not a situation where he’s just moved in and taken over and everybody says, “Oh wow, he’s doing something we couldn’t.” No, he’s not. He is not going to be able to stop the war by being there. It could be ISIL that actually winds up gaining in that process, and that would be absurd, it would be a farce, and I think President Putin understands that. …
It remains to be seen what their full strategy is in Syria … If Russia is there to go after ISIL, and to in fact help prevent the takeover of the country and to secure a political track that could result in the end of the war, that could be positive.
If Russia is there to uphold Assad, and fake it with respect to the extremists and terrorists, that’s a serious problem.