Moscow gains UN blessing for its moves to end conflict in Syria
RUSSIA yesterday won the United Nations’ backing for its ceasefire in Syria, even as it remained in danger of unravelling on the ground.
Moscow submitted a draft resolution to the Security Council to get its blessing for a nationwide ceasefire brokered with Turkey last week.
It also called for “rapid, safe and unhindered” access to deliver humanitarian aid throughout the country where millions are in dire need. Officials also said Russia looks forward to a meeting in late January between the Syrian government and the opposition in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana.
Divisions between Russia and vetowielding Western powers that support the Syrian opposition, namely the US, Britain and France, have in the past prevented progress on peace talks.
The Council has been trying for more than five years to end the fighting and let in aid convoys, with the Russians vetoing attempts six times.
Ban Ki-moon, who yesterday marked his last day in the job of UN secretarygeneral after 10 years, lamented the “fires still burning” in Syria and expressed anger that the country was being held hostage to “the destiny” of one man, Bashar al-Assad.
The Russia-Turkey brokered truce has largely held since Thursday aside from isolated violations in the Damascus suburb of Wadi Barada, where fighting between government forces and the rebels has not let up. Rebels in the area yesterday threatened to abandon the deal if the regime continued to violate the ceasefire after an 8pm deadline.
If calm continues, both sides have agreed to take part in the Astana talks, which will run counter to negotiations being led by Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria, who hopes to bring the sides together in February.
Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s UN ambassador, said “there is no competition” between the talks. “As you know Staffan de Mistura had trouble reconvening the talks, so Russia and Turkey obviously decided to give the United Nations a hand in pushing things forward and this is what we see happening,” Mr Churkin said.
The previous two ceasefires, brokered by Washington and Moscow, took effect in February and September but collapsed within weeks.
As relations deteriorated between the Cold War foes, Russia turned instead to Ankara for negotiations. Vladimir Putin’s success in bringing about an end to the fighting in Aleppo and in agreeing a new ceasefire has positioned the Russian president as a major power broker in the Middle East.
Moscow’s intervention in support of Mr Assad in September 2015 helped turn the civil war in his favour and put the rebels on the back foot.
Sources close to the Kremlin have suggested a deal in Astana could leave Mr Assad in power until the next election, which is scheduled for 2018.
The immediate removal of the president had been the opposition’s main condition for any political negotiations. However, the opposition has far less leverage after the fall of their largest stronghold in Aleppo last month.