On Saturday, the Action Group on Syria met in Geneva. Unlike the Group of Friends of Syria, which has met several times, the Geneva meeting was attended by Russia and China, other members of the UN Security Council, a representative of the EU and the Arab League, Qatar, Kuwait, Turkey and Iraq. The main outcome of the conference was the participants' proposal to create a transitional governing body in Syria capable of creating a neutral environment in which power can be transferred from President Bashar al-Assad. The transitional body, which UN Special Envoy Kofi Annan called a transitional government at the conference, will fully exercise the powers of the executive branch, according to the final communique of the meeting. The document stipulates that the transitional body may include members of the current government and the opposition, as well as members of other groups, and it must be formed on the basis of mutual consent.

However, after the meeting, a discussion flared up between the participants about whether Assad and his functionaries could join the transitional government. Annan ruled out the participation of people "whose hands are covered in blood." US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also spoke about the impossibility of Assad's participation. The adopted document does not imply Assad's resignation, clarified Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

The participants of the meeting agreed that the peace process can only proceed under conditions of a complete cessation of violence, only Syrians should take part in it, foreign intervention is excluded. During the dialogue, the constitutional structure and legal system can be revised, a new constitution must be approved by the people, and after its approval, free and fair multi-party elections must be held.

According to Annan's calculations, it will be possible to form a transitional government and obtain the first results of its work within a year. Representatives of the Syrian opposition abroad have stated that they will not join the body in which representatives of the current authorities will work. "We will not negotiate with them until they leave Syria," The Guardian quotes Khalid Saleh, a representative of the Syrian National Council. There have been no signals of readiness to participate in the work of the transitional government from the current authorities either.

The adoption of the document and the summit itself did not become a turning point in the Syrian crisis, points out orientalist Boris Dolgov. The implementation of the plan is problematic, both sides do not show readiness to participate in it, and terrorist attacks in Syria continue.

A Step Towards Assad's Resignation