Irina Zvyagelskaya: "Everyone want this terrible Syrian war to end"

By the end of 2016 Russia has become the leader among global players in the Middle East, after taking the initiative in peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis. This is evidenced by the creation of Russia-Turkey-Iran format, which resulted in the establishment of ceasefire regime in Syria and the organization of a peace conference in Astana. This conference was also recognized by the United States as "first violin" of the Middle Eastern 21st century's history. Head researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Science Irina Zvyagelskaya discussed Russia's positions as a peacemaker in the Middle East today in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza.

- How Russia's efforts affected the Syrian crisis settlement?

- In my opinion, the prospects for Syrian settlement remain a difficult issue, but thanks to the fact that the balance of power in Syria has changed, including through active actions of Russia, and thanks to the liberation of Aleppo, where we helped the government forces, we can hope for the resumption of the peace process. The goal of Astana meeting is to prepare a broader conference in the framework of the UN, to take another step towards complete settlement. The specifics of this step lie in the growth of activity of such regional powers as Turkey and Iran, which is very important, because they have access to Syrian opposition forces (Turkey) and the official Damascus (Iran). 

Of course this doesn't mean that Russia's approach completely coincides with Turkey's approach, Iran's approach or even approach of President Bashar Assad. Everyone have their own vision, but at the same time there is a common belief that it is time to end this terrible war and achieve stabilization in Syria. It's very important that even Assad is ready to negotiate with people who fight against him. He didn't want to do it previosly, but now he will negotiate with those who have influence over the situation on the ground. It's a very important step. Of course, it won't be easy, there are too many interests of both internal forces and regional powers, and there are many opposite approaches on how to resolve Syrian conflict. I'm afraid it will be a long, difficult and quite painful process, but it's impossible to live without it any longer.

- What can you say about current relations between Russia and Turkey in the Middle East?

- Turkey played a huge role in the preparation of this conference, since it can influence many opposition groups. Ankara is in contact with them, so it does an extremely important work. Cooperation between Russia and Turkey is being restored after that terrible crisis in our relations, and today we agree on the situation in Syria in certain aspects. Of course, the differences between us still exist, bilateral ties between Moscow and Ankara are not on the same level as before. In my opinion, a failed coup in Turkey helped to accelerate the normalization of our relations. In this very difficult situation the country was interested in forced restoration of contacts with Russia.

- What will change in Russia's relations with the United States in the foreseeable future?

- Judging by the statements of President-elect Donald Trump, who speaks about the need to cooperate with Russia in the fight against terrorism, we can expect that something will change. It is clear that Trump won't have the same policy as the previous administration, but we should take into account the fact that the US president is not sultan, who can change everything as he wishes, do what he wants and so on. The American president is just a part of political system. Even if something in the US foreign policy will change, which, by the way, always happens with the change of administration, it is very difficult to predict how radical these changes will be. 

- Can we expect that situation around Iran's nuclear deal will become more difficult when Trump officially becomes president?

- As we all heard, Donald Trump said he believes that the agreement with Iran is far from ideal. There is opinion that under Trump the United States will once again put pressure on Iran and Iranian leadership by not lifting remaining sanctions. Such approach to Iran is possible.