Russia with an eye for Syrian opposition

Orkhan Sattarov. Exclusively to VK

The West and the Syrian opposition have a new reason to hope that Moscow is ready to reconsider partially its position on official Damascus. At least major German periodicals present rejection of Russia from further armament export to Syria until the conflict is settled in this way. On July 9 the deputy head of the Russian Federal Service on Military and Technical Cooperation, Vyacheslav Dizirkaln, told journalists that Russia wouldn’t provide supplies of new armaments to Syria and sign new contracts with it in this sphere until the situation is not stable. “Russia concerns about the situation in Syria. We do not talk about new supplies of armament to this country. Earlier we fulfilled old contracts, including those on mechanical material maintenance. We won’t provide new armament export until the situation becomes stable,” Dzirkaln said, RIA Novosti reports. Moreover, Russia won’t provide Syria with 36 military aircrafts YaK-130, despite the signed contract on $550 million agreed in early 2012.

The talks between the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, and representatives of the Syrian opposition give the Western partners certain hopes for progress. For instance, Lavrov met the delegation of the Syrian opposition Democratic Forum headed by Michel Kilo.

It should be noted that 72-year-old Michel Kilo who lives in Paris since the 1970s belongs to the left political camp and presents only one segment of the separated Syrian opposition. According to him, despite his left views, he had never wanted to visit the Soviet Union because he wasn’t agreed with the foreign policy of Moscow. However, today the ground for cooperation and mutual understanding are present. First of all, Michel Kilo represents the secular democratic opposition. Secondly, he stands against military intervention into Syria. At the same time Kilo thinks it is quite possible after the presidential elections in the US in this autumn. “Russian diplomacy made big mistakes in Syria. At the moment it has a little period of time for saving its positions in the country,” Kilo said during the talks with Sergey Lavrov. After that he proposed the Russian minister to establish a coordination committee through which the Kremlin could organize contacts between the opposition and representatives of the ruling regime who are ready to scuttle. The army and special services have many people who do not agree with the policy of Bashar Assad, Kilo says.

The Syrian opposition is clashed. It seems that the only aspect on which everybody agrees is necessity of Bashar Assad’s resignation. At the time the Democratic Forum is ready to cooperate with Islamists. However, Kilo is sure that Syria won’t go on the path of radical Islamization because a wide middle class exists in the country, and it cannot be compared with Tunisia and Egypt.

The head of the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs didn’t promise the Syrian opposition member to provide support. “The Russian side presented principle approaches in favor of peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis by the Syrians themselves without foreign interference. In this case it is important that all groups of the Syrian opposition would stand together. The common grounds include recognition of non-alternativeness of the political process required by the plan of Kofi Annan and decisions made at the ministries forum in Geneva on June 30 and launching of an exclusive dialogue between Syrian government and the opposition,” the message by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Russia says. In short terms, Moscow still suggests the Syrians should agree between themselves and without military interference.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs stated that Kilo and other top members of the Democratic Forum “expressed understanding of the Russian position and gratitude for sincere striving for contribution to stop the violence, normalization of the situation and settlement of sharp issues of the national agenda by the Syrians themselves.” Therefore, if Moscow decided to demonstrate that it has supporters in the opposition side, this aim has been fulfilled.

Nevertheless, even those opposition members who contact with Moscow wait for more from it. Thus, Michel Kilo believes that Russia needs some time for decision making.

Meanwhile, Moscow extends the dialogue with Assad’s opponents. It is planned that Sergey Lavrov meets a delegation of the other Syrian opposition structure –Syrian National Council. SNC is especially supported by the West, Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. It insists on foreign intervention. Of course it is logical to predict that  the Russian side will have even less common grounds with SNC than with the Democratic Forum, but the fact of the meeting means a lot. Moscow stopped focusing on Assad.