Biden, Putin face early post-summit test over Syria cooperation

Bloomberg

President Joe Biden’s effort to reverse a free fall in US-Russia relations encounters an early test in Syria as an agreement over international aid corridors into the country is set to expire this week.
Keeping aid flowing into Syria was a key request Biden made of President Vladimir Putin at their summit in Geneva last month, but that will require the two nations and other members of the United Nations Security Council to reach an accord this week. The current agreement expires July 10.
The US and allied nations want to avert a shutdown of aid operations, which benefits Syrians living in rebel-held areas. Putin, for his part, wants to extract concessions for his ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Millions of lives could hang in the balance.
“The basic strategic question is what Russia will demand from the international community and the US in return for saving these 3.5 million people,” said James Jeffrey, who recently served as the American envoy for Syria and negotiated cross-border aid with Moscow. “The US is putting a lot of emphasis on this and it’s getting a lot of attention, but Putin won’t do this just to make us happy.”
Russia has been gradually reducing such aid to Syria in recent years, arguing the cross-border operation — which benefits rebel-held areas — undermines the sovereignty of Assad’s regime. The debate comes six years after Putin’s decision to enter the conflict shifted the balance of power away from a melange
of rebel and terrorist groups back to the government in Damascus.
Critics say Assad’s government is withholding basic goods like food and clean water to millions of Syrians as a tool of war. To get around Assad, the UN in 2014 approved four border crossings for aid deliveries, but Russia — which holds veto power on the Security Council — last year forced the closing of all but one of those crossings.
The Security Council is negotiating a resolution, drafted by Ireland and Norway, that intends to keep the current aid corridor on the Turkish border open while reopening one from Iraq. That resolution was criticized by US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who recently visited the Turkish-Syria border. She says three crossing are needed.
“Millions of Syrians are struggling, and without urgent action, millions more will be cut off from food, clean water, medicine, and Covid-19 vaccines,” said Thomas-Greenfield. “The situation is devastating, and will only get worse if we don’t act. The Security Council must meet the moment with the robust humanitarian access that people of the region
desperately need.”
Yet the Russians are signaling that even keeping one crossing open will be difficult.