Obama says Russia may ultimately come around on Assad’s future

PARIS — President Obama expressed optimism Tuesday that Russia will ultimately come around on the need for Syrian President Bashar Assad to leave power to end his country’s long civil war, but warned the turnaround would not come overnight.

Discussing the Syria crisis with world leaders in Paris, Obama also urged Turkey and Russia to set aside recent tensions that have undermined his efforts to strengthen the U.S.-led coalition fighting defeating the Islamic State group.

Obama’s remarks on the sidelines of global climate talks came as the U.S. continues to press Russia to focus its air strikes in Syria against the Islamic State, rather than on U.S.-backed rebel groups fighting Assad.

Obama said he expects that diplomatic negotiations in Vienna to pursue a political solution to Syria’s civil war will move forward at the same time that the U.S.-led coalition applies greater pressure to defeat the Islamic State.

Concerns about the Islamic State have overshadowed Obama’s two-day trip to Paris, where Islamic State-linked attacks killed 130 people last month in the run-up to the climate negotiations.

Obama had sought to turn the outrage over the Paris attacks and the group’s shoot-down of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt into new resolve for stepping up the fight.