“We are aware of the Russian proposals”, Rycroft said. A spokesperson for the foreign ministry in Moscow added that the Syrian opposition had rejected Russia’s plan for Syria, which called for holding elections after constitutional reform.
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A new push to resolve the Syrian conflict has been gathering pace, with diplomatic officials already arriving in Vienna ahead of talks bringing together a few 20 countries and worldwide bodies on Saturday.
“If Bashar al-Assad’s departure is not completed in a peaceful manner, then it will be completed in a military manner”, he said. “In addition, Obama is pressured by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who spent billions of dollars to overthrow the legitimate Syrian government”, – said Seregichev. Russian Federation intervened on Mr Assad’s behalf on 30 September, launching airstrikes on rebel groups pushing close to the regime’s north-western heartlands. Absolutely a red line. “This is something that won’t be a negotiable issue”.
The United States and its European and Arab allies are demanding that Assad be forced to step down at a few point in a transition, but Iran and Russian Federation disagree.
A western diplomat told the AFP news agency that each country would be allowed to name a maximum of 25 opposition representatives, designating half to focus on political reforms and half to discuss security issues.
A summit communique expressed support for the Geneva 1 communique, a 2012 document setting out guidelines for Syria’s path to peace including a transitional governing authority.
The communique said such an authority must be chosen by the Damascus government and opposition by mutual consent, which Washington has said in effect rules out Assad staying in power. Given that the two most powerful factions fighting the Syrian regime are ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra-both takfiri groups-many Syrians see the secular Ba’athist regime as the only realistic bulwark against Islamist extremism in Syria.
Despite the common threat posed by terrorists and extremist groups in the region, the “reaction of the U.S. and Western partners was quite restrained, ” Putin said.
They said there would also be discussions over which rebel groups should be classified as “terrorist” organisations.
Though analysts said that the Russian government does not respond to public pressure on foreign policy, a significant shift in public opinion could put the Kremlin in an awkward position if Russians begin calling for a ground offensive or outright withdrawal. “Assad’s atrocities – barrel bombs, gravity bombs, artillery and missiles directed against civilian residential neighborhoods – do three things: kill and stampede lots of people; create recruits for ISIS; and prevent any possibility of dialogue and negotiation between Syrians”.
Russian Federation has proposed an 18-month transition period to end to Syria’s four year war, leaving the path open for the president to stand in fresh elections.
It’s unclear what the US and Saudi Arabia, Iran’s Mideast rival, are getting in return.
Steven Rosenberg is in Syria and has been following how people there are reacting to the Russian military and political strategy.
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The participants are also calling for a countrywide no-fly zone, the release of prisoners on all sides of the conflict, an global observer force on the ground, an arms embargo on the regime, and the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Syria. This ISIS creed is a critical challenge to be overcome: keeping alive the idea of Syria as a viable entity-even on life support-is a necessary exit ramp for this conflict, just as the negation of Syria (and Iraq) has been instrumental in recruiting and mobilizing ISIS followers in the first place. “They feel not only reassured by the Vienna statement but felt they could dictate it and feel they can get around the hard parts”, the diplomat said.
