Three baskets for Geneva-2

By Vestnik Kavkaza

Yesterday the second round of the inter-Syrian talks began in Geneva. A meeting between Russia, the USA and the UN, which is planned for February 14th, should encourage Geneva-2. However, the aide to the deputy chairman of the Federation Council, ambassador Andrei Baklanov, has no significant hopes.

“A lot depends on the organization of the talks. If the principle of “all and now” is maintained, the results will be small,” Baklanov told Vestnik Kavkaza, urging a division of the problems discussed at the talks into three baskets.

The first basket is an immediate settlement of humanitarian problems.

The second – military-political issues with the focus on providing the elimination of chemical weapons.

The third – political aspects.

“The most difficult questions, i.e. Bashar Assad’s fate, cannot be agreed at the moment, but the first two directions are promising for progress. Probably due to the settlement of these two problems – humanitarian and military-political – certain elements of control over the critical situation will appear. A problem of establishing points of neutral observers who could independently assess the situation in Syria could be solved. If progress begins in these two directions, a more favorable climate for settlement of the issues which cannot be agreed at the moment will be established. Dynamics are demanded. Probably dynamics will lead to general positive results.”

As regards Iranian participation in the Geneva talks, Baklanov thinks that it is a very sensitive issue: “The situation has not been great. As far as I understand it, Iran's approach is the following: if there is a will to distance us from the negotiations, it is nothing new for Iran, its fine. This isn't good for finding any solutions to problems. If you are ready to use our capacity in negotiations, we are ready for it. I think that the issue of Iran's participation is very important, but it should not be the key issue, it should not hinder the development of the negotiating process. I will say it once again, this is a very sensitive issue. There is a great number of powerful forces who have a negative reaction to the presence of Iran at the negotiations. But we have to know the point of view of the Iranians and we need to take it fully into account.”

Meanwhile, yesterday the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, which is holding intensive talks both with the Syrian authorities and the opposition representatives, stated that it still pays close attention to the humanitarian situation in Syria. By February 10th more than 600 people, including 210 women and 180 children, managed to leave the locked district in Homs due to a ceasefire agreement between the government army and the armed opposition. Employees of the Syrian organization of the Red Crescent brought food to locked districts. However, the Russian Foreign Ministry says that militants have several times broken the ceasefire regime, and at least five people died, 20 were injured.