New: Friday's UN vote took some US officials by surprise given Russia's longtime opposition to the humanitarian corridor. Officials said it was evidence that the possibility of future US-Russia cooperation is better than was expected. cnn.com/2021/07/09/pol…
Biden administration officials, including on the NSC and at the UN, had been "fighting" with Russia to keep the crossing open for months, according to a US official. The Biden administration felt it was saddled with the "fiasco," as a result of misguided Trump-era policies.
As of earlier this week, there was still little indication of how Russia would vote—Russia skipped negotiations on Tuesday, and US and U.N. officials said this week they were bracing for a rebuke and weighing potential "Plan B's" to get aid into northwestern Syria.
Russia meanwhile has been pushing the US to lift Syria sanctions. While US officials say there are discussions underway about how to mitigate the impact of the sanctions on the Syrian population, no policy decisions have been made to pull back any of the sanctions on Assad.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
