Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined the essential requirements to complete eliminating the remnants of “tension hotbeds” in Syria and facilitating the return of the refugees by supporting the Syrian government, through international aid, and launching reconstruction projects that should support the modernization of the Syrian economy under the legitimate leadership.
Recently, Moscow has been sending signals about the prospects of returning to negotiations in Geneva or working to revive the negotiating process.
Over the past two years, the Russian focus was on the cease-fire issues and distribution of Syrian areas as “de-escalation zones”, but that soon turned into large areas of operations during which Russia settled the battles for the regime.
Idlib is the only remaining area which is facing a continuous military escalation for weeks now.
In the meantime, Moscow launched the ideas of the return of refugees and the launching of reconstruction operations and urged the international community to deal with these two issues, without allowing a debate on the need of re-launching the political process approved by the Security Council in its Resolution 2254.
In their discussions with the United Nations, Russian officials have focused, over the past two years, on restricting the implementation of international resolutions in the stalled efforts to form and launch the Constitutional Committee.
Moscow has strongly criticized the statements of international envoys or Western capitals that sought to recall the need to launch the political track, according to the vision developed by former international envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura.
Moscow has failed to convince the international community to limit the debate on reconstruction and the return of refugees, and also failed to convince the Arab countries to normalize relations with the Assad regime.
However, the political developments in the region especially on the Iranian issue and the growing criticism of Tehran's regional policies, gave Moscow a chance to rearrange its priorities and sent more than once indirect signals indicating its readiness to deal with the issue of removing Iran from Syria by stressing that all foreign forces must leave the country.
It also maintained channels of close contact with Israel from one side, and with Arab countries from another.
Moscow is dealing with the possibility of reaching agreements on Syria from its bases, including building on what has been achieved so far, because undermining it means chaos again in the country, and establishing a framework that meets the needs of all regional parties, Russian sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
In this sense, Putin’s speech at the meeting of BRICS group on the sidelines of the Osaka summit can be understood that the first task in Syria is to complete the elimination of the “tension hotbeds.”
In the same sense, it can be assumed that the international community will deal with the priorities outlined by Putin during and after the summit.
The urgent measures in Syria are the appropriate way to resolve other crises and conflicts, whether in Afghanistan, Venezuela, the Middle East or the Korean peninsula, Putin said at the BRICS meeting. He noted that Russia provided assistance to Syria's legitimate government, and with that, it is possible to stop the bloodshed on a large scale.
Putin did not deny that the road to victory in Syria was risky, according to a previous statement in an interview with the Financial Times.
The Russian leader noted that after careful consideration and discussions with the top officials and military leaders, he considered that the positive outcome of Russia’s active involvement in Syrian affairs would be much greater for Russia and its interests than the consequences of non-intervention and negative perception of the growing international terrorism near its borders.
After evaluating Russia’s intervention in Syria, Putin recalled the results saying that a large number of insurgents were eliminated and the region geographically close to his country was stabilized, thus directly ensuring Russia’s security.
He also indicated that Moscow established good and practical relations with all the countries of the region, and its locations in the Middle East have become more stable.
In addition, Russian forces were able to maintain Syrian institutions and prevent the outbreak of chaos there and significantly developed its armed forces after they received an unimaginable experience that it could not have gained in a peaceful atmosphere, according to Putin.
