Russia says wants Syria elections, ready to help Free Syrian Army

Reuters via WBHL ^ | October 24, 2015 | Andrew Osborn and Maria Kiselyova

[BeadCounter]

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin wanted Syria to prepare for parliamentary and presidential elections, as Moscow intensified its drive to convert its increased clout with Damascus into a political settlement.

In comments which mark a shift in Russia's position, he also said that Russia's airforce, which has been bombing Islamist militants in Syria since Sept. 30, would be ready to help Western-backed Free Syrian Army rebels, if it knew where they were.

The Kremlin, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's strongest foreign ally, has spoken broadly about the need for elections in Syria before. But Lavrov's comments were its most specific call for political renewal yet and came just days after a surprise visit by Assad to Moscow.

"External players can not decide anything for the Syrians. We must force them to come up with a plan for their country where the interests of every religious, ethnic and political group will be well protected," Lavrov told Russian state TV in an interview broadcast on Saturday.

"They need to prepare for both parliamentary and presidential elections."

[Don Corleone]

I wonder how Obama feels getting Beotch slapped by Putin on an almost daily basis?

[McGruff]

Last time I saw Obama on TV he was congratulating Clock Boy at our White House.

[silverleaf]

LOL! Lavrov and Putin know there is no real “Free Syrian Army”

They have asked repeatedly to meet with FSA leadership to discuss a political reform and the US French Saudis and Turks have declined to identify them

The Russians have offered to help the “FSA” fight against ISIS and got some internet reply

At best they may co-opt some former Syrian army officers into joining talks with Assad on condition of being pardoned for desertion and killing fellow Syrian soldiers, police, postal workers and citizens

[Ben Ficklin]

The underlying issue is regime change. The US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and FSA want regime change. Russia and Iran are opposed to regime change, but for different reasons.

The primary reason for the Russian intervention was to enhance Assad's negotiating position.

There is an obvious solution. Russia has gone chest deep in Syria so let them foot the bill for a while and stew in their own juices. The US is only ankle deep in Syria, limited to providing arms to FSA.

I think it will be interesting to see if Putin, Iran, and Assad can drive FSA, Nusra, Kurds, and ISIS out of Aleppo/northern Syria.

[silverleaf]

Well there is no FSA at least in a political sense (only scattered militia groups that mostly linked up with islamist extremists and are now dying or running away with them; Nusra is taking heavy hits from Russian attacks, they have good intelligence about where these guys are, and are particularly interested in wiping out the al Qaeda foreign fighters so they don't end up back in the Russian republics or Libya; the Kurds may be opening an “embassy” in Moscow, and may be natural Russian allies to counter sunni extremism and Turkey; and once the Russians help secure Aleppo it will be on to Raqqa and Iraq- where some reports indicate they have just been invited by the Iraqi govt to conduct attacks (in defiance of US threats to cut ties with Iraq if they let the Russuna conduct military operations).

So this is one heck of an interesting time in history, things are moving very fast.

Can the Russians keep up the military momentum in Syria? Because that is driving everything else in the region at this point.