GENEVA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd August, 2018) US National Security Adviser John Bolton will meet with Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev in Geneva on Thursday, having just completed his three-day visit to Israel and being eager to discuss with the Russian counterpart the allies' concerns over the Iranian presence in Syria.
One-day talks are seen as a follow-up to the July summit between presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland.
"We're going see what we and others can agree in terms of resolving the conflict in Syria. But the one prerequisite there is the withdrawal of all Iranian forces back in Iran," Bolton told Reuters in an interview in Jerusalem.
"So we're obviously going to talk to him [Patrushev] about what role they can play," he said.
Bolton also claimed that Russia is "stuck" in Syria and "is looking for someone to bear the cost of reconstructing Syria," which, according to the adviser, gives the United States a leverage in talks with Moscow.
Kremlin, however, stated later on Wednesday it is "not correct to say that Russia is stuck somewhere."
Israel refuses to accept any Iranian presence close to its border. Iran, in turn, claims its presence in Syria can only be coordinated with the government of Syria. The United States sees security of Israel, its close ally, as one of its priorities in the region, which Donald Trump reiterated at the summit in Helsinki.
Soon after the summit, two southwestern provinces in Syria - Daraa and Quneitra - were liberated from terrorists, therefore the issue of the foreign military presence there became even more pressing and was repeatedly addressed by senior officials of Russia, Iran, Israel and Jordan at a number of intensive consultations in July-August.
As a result, Russia managed to agree with Tehran on the pullout of the Iranian units 85 kilometers (some 53 miles) from the Israeli-Syrian border, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev told Sputnik in an interview in August.
However, the United States might be willing to negotiate further withdrawal. "Getting Iran's forces back to its territory," as well as fight against terrorism and humanitarian situation are what Washington is focused on, Bolton said ahead of his meeting with the Israeli prime minister earlier this week.
On the humanitarian aspect, funding of Syria's reconstruction is likely to come to the fore. For Russia, the return of refugees and the country's reconstruction is an immediate priority. The United States, on the contrary, ended its yearly $230-million payment to Syria for the development purposes last week. Trump called on Saudi Arabia and "other rich countries" to pay for it.
Washington wants to see political transition in Syria in place before making any contributions to the rebuilding of the state.
Apart from Syria, a wider range of security-related issues, including Ukraine and arms control (renegotiating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and the new START Treaty), can be addressed by the two senior officials. After Geneva, Bolton is heading to Kiev to meet with President Petro Poroshenko and defense, foreign and prime ministers on the occasion of Ukraine's Independence Day on August 24.
