in that, at least in this stage, and that sets them up well in negotiations with donald trump. jill dougherty and matthew chance. thank you both. still to come, we will take a look at what s happening in syria. first the airstrikes and the shelling. now thousands of people in eastern aleppo facing heavy snow as you can see there. freezing cold temperatures. as they wait for safe passage out. the latest on the evacuation is next. how else do you think he gets around so fast? take the reins this holiday and get the mercedes-benz you ve always wanted during the winter event. now lease the 2017 gle350 for $579 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer.
we don t have these substantial ones. i think that s what they were trying to say. they were trying to paint this very bleak characterization of the state of affairs between washington and moscow. which is that on a whole range of issues, from nato expansion, to the conflict in syria, to sanctions over ukraine the russians and the americans are not really engaging in the kind of dialogue that russia this they should be engaging in given their two kind of very important powers on the international stage. and i think that was the only point that this kremlin spokesperson was trying to make. we ll delve a little bit deeper into that in just a moment. but i do want to ask you quickly about the funeral today for the russian ambassador who was killed in that attack earlier this week in turkey. bring us up to speed on that and who is there today. yeah, well that funeral is now over. it was a big state occasion, actually. it was broadcast limp on state television. there was a short memoria
engagement on a wide range of issues. but, jill, does anything happen in these next 29 days? are we essentially at a stalemate here until there is a new administration? i don t think they re going to do much. let s say concretely. they re not going to bring back that presidential commission. i mean maybe trump continues it. maybe he doesn t. maybe he does something else. but i think what the russians are doing right now is they know we ve got like a month, just a few weeks, so they re kind of setting the ground. you look at syria, what they re doing. the price for them is increasing. this very sad, assassination of their ambassador. the russians don t want to be there forever in syria. they want to end it. and they want to end it so that they are the people who are at the table when there s some sort of solution, and that they are the key force not only in syria, but in the middle east. and they are beginning succeed
woodrow wilson center, former moscow bureau chief. i want to jump on one of the things that matthew has brought up in terms of the message here being from what was heard from the kremlin from the press secretary that the relationship right now with the united states is not necessarily the one that russia wants. and this, of course, comes on the heels of this meeting earlier this week between russia and turkey and iran, trying to figure out a plan for syria. u.s. was not invited to that. so there s clearly a broader message that s happening here, jill, not just to the united states but i would make the case globally. yeah, and you know, erica, this is actually nothing new. i mean, dmitry peskov is talking about something that people have been talking about for well over a year, two years. the state department decided, in order to punish russia for what it did in annexing crimea, and also bringing troops into ukraine, punish them by the silence treatment. and the u.s. basically has cut
off communication with russia on what s important, a lot of people don t know this, but there is a commission. it s called the u.s./russia bilateral presidential commission. and it s been around for quite a long time. and it has a whole lot of what they call baskets. arms control, agriculture, health, you name it. and it gave a way for both countries to talk about it. so the united states, after russia had this action in ukraine, said, we are not going to talk with you. and that is something that actually, the russians are now bringing up, but some americans have brought this up, too. so i think this is kind of getting us ready for the trump administration, you know, the message is, we should get back to talking. and they re right. secretary lavrov, minister lavrov talks with john kerry. and they also have this deconfliction, so planes do not run into each other in syria. that s on the military side. but basically, they aren t