Alone in an Irish field

A serious scandal is brewing at the G8 summit, which is taking place these days in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland. The reason is insurmountable disagreements on the Syrian issue between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the rest of the forum participants. As various publications and observers note, the likelihood that Putin will refuse to sign the final communiqué on Syria is very high. The backstage meeting between the Russian leader and US President Barack Obama that took place the day before does not seem to have brought the parties any closer to a compromise. At the same time, leaders of the Western world do not hesitate to publicly criticize Russia’s position on this issue. Thus, French President Francois Hollande directly states: “How can we allow that Russia continues to supply weapons to the regime of Bashar al-Assad, while the opposition has so few of them and is being killed?”

There is no doubt that the fact that the final document on Syria will appear, which will not bear the signature of the head of the Russian delegation, is an extremely unpleasant precedent for Vladimir Putin. In any case, it can be stated that the contradictions between the West and Russia are getting worse, and some of them, as we see in the example of Syria, are becoming insurmountable.