Russia blocks mention of Assad's fate in G8 Syria declaration

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron (C) sits with (L-R) Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russia's President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Barack Obama and France's President Francois Hollande, Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Italy's Prime Minister Enrico Letta during the second Plenary Session of the G8 Summit, at Lough Erne, near Enniskillen, in Northern Ireland June 18, 2013.(Reuters / Jewel Samad)

Moscow has insisted that no demands for the resignation of Syrian President Bashar Assad be made in the G8 summit’s communiqué on the issue. The eight world powers have called for a political solution to the ongoing Syrian crisis.

“We remain committed to achieving a political solution to the crisis based on a vision for a united, inclusive and democratic Syria,” the final G8 summit communiqué reads, as quoted by Reuters. “We strongly endorse the decision to hold as soon as possible the Geneva conference on Syria,” reads the document, which does not outline Assad’s role in a post-crisis Syria.

In Moscow’s view, any mandate in the document defining Assad’s fate would be “deeply wrong, harmful and it would upset the political balance” being established for the conflict-resolution process, deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov said earlier in the day. 

“We cannot dictate to participants of the future [Geneva-2] conference [on Syria] as well as to those who will take part in the transitional period in the country what this process will end up with – then there would be no sense in starting it,” the Russian diplomat told journalists.“The logic of our policy is different: It is based on the recognition of Syrian sovereignty, and the necessity of doing the maximum possible in order for Syrians to be able to make a political decision regarding their future.” 
Wrapping up their gathering in Northern Ireland, the G8 leaders also urged the Syrian government and the opposition to commit to destroying all organizations affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

The Russian deputy Foreign Minister earlier lashed out at Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who called the G8 summit in Northern Ireland “G7 plus one” – a criticism of Moscow for “supporting” the Syrian regime. 

Moscow’s stance on resolving the Syrian crisis is completely in line with other G8 members, Ryabkov emphasized. 

World leaders gathered in Loch Erne for face-to-face talks and had enough time to iron out their differences, the diplomat observed. 

The G8 leaders worked until 2:30 AM hashing out their joint declaration, a source in the Russian delegation said. 

There are still differing opinions on how to best resolve the Syrian crisis, Ryabkov said. However, the chances for holding a new round of peace talks in Geneva have increased.

Russia and the US proposed holding an international peace conference on Syria, following a meeting in Moscow last month between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry. The Geneva 2 talks would be a follow-up to last year’s international meeting in Switzerland that drafted a peace roadmap for Syria, known as the Geneva Communiqué. 

Initially, the conference was planned for the end of May, and was then postponed till mid-June; no definite date for the meeting has been scheduled yet.

The peace talks were postponed due to the difficulty of bringing all parties involved to the table. While the Syrian government approved of such a meeting, the opposition remains split on the matter.

The issue was raised again as Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama met on the sidelines of the G8 summit. The leaders agreed to push the sides of the two-year-long Syrian conflict to the negotiating table in Geneva.

“On some points, we still have a different stance, but we are united by an aspiration to prevent violence, to put an end to the growing number of victims, to solve the problem by peaceful means, including through negotiations at the international conference at Geneva,” Putin said.