Russia's support "arsenal" for Assad exhausted: Kremlin
(Reuters) - Moscow can do no more for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a top Kremlin aide said on Monday, opening the way to a shift in Russia's position after 10 months of bloodshed.
Russia has resisted pressure to call for Assad's resignation and, with China, blocked a Western-crafted U.N. Security Council resolution that would have condemned a crackdown that has killed thousands of Syrians.
But Mikhail Margelov, a senior lawmaker who is President Dmitry Medvedev's special Africa envoy and has engaged in diplomacy over Syria, said Russia's diplomatic 'arsenal' was now exhausted.
" Our) veto on the U.N. Security Council resolution was the last instrument allowing Bashar al-Assad to maintain the status quo in the international arena," Margelov was quoted as saying by the state-run Itar-Tass news agency.
more:http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/23/us-syria-russia-idUSTRE80M1OX20120123
pampango
(24,692 posts)immediately, today," he said.
From the OP:
Analysts say Russia will hold out as long as possible before any climbdown on Syria, which it has used to emphasize its opposition to interference. ... "The Russian leadership is disappointed by the deadlock in Syria. We don't see any way out of the turmoil," said independent analyst Yevgeny Volk.
"Russia's position will remain ambiguous, (but) ... Russia is moving towards recognizing that Assad is not the person to rule Syria and that Syria needs some change, but Russia needs some guarantee its interests will be respected."
Apart from representing hundreds of millions of dollars in arms sales, Syria also hosts a Russian naval maintenance facility on its Mediterranean coast.
Since this statement comes on the same day that Russia announced the sale of jet fighters to Syria, it is hard to see this as a firm new policy for Russia. It may just be a "trial balloon" to put more pressure on Assad.