Secretary of State John Kerry says the United States is not seeking the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Speaking in Moscow following talks with Russian leaders, Kerry backed the Russian demand that it be left to the Syrian people to determine if Assad remains in power.

Secretary of State John Kerry: “The United States and our partners are not seeking so-called regime change, as it is known, in Syria. What we have said is that we don’t believe that Assad himself has the ability to be able to lead the future Syria. But we didn’t—you know, we focused today not on our differences about what can or can’t be done immediately about Assad. We focused on a process.”