"In the political process, Russia has been cooperative and they’ve been helpful," Kirby said. "Russia has an important role to play here because they have influence over the Assad regime, and because they have been critical to this whole international community process from the very beginning."
US Department of State spokesperson John Kirby also said that the United States would want the New York round of Syria peace talks to result in a UN Security Council resolution to underscore the leading role of the United Nations in the ceasefire implementation and reconciliation process.
"The hopes today are that we will end up with a UN Security Council resolution that will do a few things: one, endorse the work of International Syrian Support Group, two, codify the Vienna process… and number three, to show that the UN is taking a leadership role here in terms of both crafting and implementing ceasefire, as well as supervising the political transition process as it goes forward," Kirby said.
