US wants to engage Russia on Islamic State

The White House said on Tuesday the United States would like to see Russia engage constructively with the international coalition fighting Islamic State militants in Syria, rather than build up its own military presence there.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said US President Barack Obama had not spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the issue but would attempt to do so when the president "determines that it would advance our interests."

The two countries have been in frequent communication. US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov by phone on Tuesday, the State Department said, in their third conversation since Sept 5.

The US State Department said Kerry made clear that Russia's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "risks exacerbating and extending the conflict, and undermining our shared goal of fighting extremism if we do not also remain focused on finding a solution to the conflict in Syria via a genuine political transition".

Russia's Foreign Ministry said Lavrov had stressed the need to create a united front to battle terrorist groups in Syria.

The US no longer wants the government of Assad to fall, Russia's envoy at the United Nations Vitaly Churkin told CBS in an interview published on Tuesday.

"I think this is one thing we share now with the United States, with the US government: They don't want the Assad government to fall. They don't want it to fall. They want to fight (Islamic State) in a way which is not going to harm the Syrian government," Churkin said. "On the other hand, they don't want the Syrian government to take advantage of their campaign against (IS). But they don't want to harm the Syrian government by their action. This is very complex," he was quoted as saying by Tass news agency.

He said that the US position was getting closer to the Russian view on Syria. "They have made a lot great progress in understanding the complexities of the situation. To me, it is absolutely clear that ... one of the very serious concerns of the US citizen government now is that the Assad regime will fall and (IS) will take over Damascus and the US will be blamed for that," he said.

AFP - Reuters