How negotiations between the Russian Federation and the United States on Syria broke down

One of the main topics of the Munich Security Conference was Syria. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held tense negotiations on a resolution proposed for consideration by the UN Security Council on the situation in this country. The Russian minister convinced his colleague not to put the text to a vote, insisting on introducing two amendments to it. Until the last moment it seemed that a compromise was possible, but hopes were not justified.

The conflict over Syria was not announced as a separate topic at the International Conference in Munich over the weekend. Nevertheless, it was to him that the attention of the forum participants was riveted. Before flying to Munich, Sergei Lavrov gave an interview to the Rossiya 1 TV channel, emphasizing that the French-Moroccan draft resolution on Syria, submitted for consideration by the UN Security Council, is “completely unsuitable” for Moscow. However, the minister did not give an unambiguous answer to the question whether the Russian Federation would veto the project, noting “that it is undergoing the right changes” and “there is still work to be done on it.” At the same time, he emphasized that if supporters of the resolution, represented by the United States, put it to a vote without taking into account Russian amendments, then “they will get a scandal in the Security Council.”

The fact that a scandal cannot be avoided became clear during Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's speech in Munich. “We, together with the League of Arab States, demand an end to the bloodshed in Syria and a democratic future for this country,” she said. “And we hope that at 10:00 a.m. New York time, the Security Council will express the will of the international community.” Stormy applause rang out in the hall, where high-ranking representatives from 70 countries were present.

The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry did not mention Syria in his speech, concentrating on the main theme of the conference - building a Euro-Atlantic security community (see page 7). However, when the forum participants were given the opportunity to ask him a few questions, it turned out that they were most interested in his opinion on the situation around Syria and the UN Security Council. Mr. Lavrov was asked why Moscow so persistently supports Bashar al-Assad and whether the Russian Federation is afraid of making the wrong historical bet?

Sergei Lavrov replied that the Russian Federation does not protect Bashar al-Assad personally, but international law. He explained that Moscow is not satisfied with the latest version of the resolution. Firstly, this is “extreme specificity in terms of requirements for the regime and, on the contrary, vagueness of wording when describing the actions of (opposition - Kommersant ) armed groups, which are engaged, among other things, in intimidating citizens, also violating human rights, attacking government institutions ". And secondly, “ambiguity in the text of the resolution,” without eliminating which it is not obvious that “intra-Syrian dialogue should be carried out without preconditions.” At the same time, the minister emphasized that the proposed resolution was “not hopeless.”

After answering the questions, Sergei Lavrov set off for bilateral negotiations. His meeting with Hillary Clinton lasted the longest. Since it took place behind closed doors, journalists waited for the minister on the plane. At some point, he unexpectedly appeared in the cockpit and said: “Transmit to the tapes: on instructions from the President of the Russian Federation, Lavrov and Fradkov (director of the SVR Mikhail Fradkov - Kommersant ) will visit Syria on February 7, where they will meet with Bashar al-Assad.” Mr. Lavrov did not answer questions about the purpose of the trip. When the plane took off, he again went out to the journalists and went over the comments to the text of the resolution in more detail. “The Russian amendments do not require extraordinary efforts,” he noted. “If our colleagues show a constructive approach, then we will no longer receive a “Moroccan” resolution, but a collective document of the UN Security Council, which, I am sure, will be signed by all countries without exception.”

Confidence that a compromise is still possible was clearly enhanced by the agreement of Russia’s partners in the UN Security Council to remove from the text of the resolution the call for Bashar al-Assad to leave his post, as well as any hints about the possibility of intervention in Syria. Sergei Lavrov added that the remaining comments of the Russian Federation, which were of a less fundamental nature, had already been transferred to the Americans and Germans, who promised to consider them. “We’ll wait until New York wakes up,” he concluded optimistically.

New York's response became known as soon as Sergei Lavrov's plane landed at Vnukovo: news agencies reported the words of US Permanent Representative to the UN Susan Rice that Russian proposals were “unacceptable.” Soon after this, a meeting of the UN Security Council began (see material next).

Elena Chernenko, Munich - Moscow

"We'll wait until New York wakes up"