Russian lawmakers arrive in Syria for meeting with President Assad

The talks, which follow a surprise visit by Assad to Moscow earlier this week, will provide a key opportunity for diplomats discuss Russia’s increased military role in Syria and how that impacts efforts to end the conflict.

“It’s always hard to play a double game: declaring a fight against terrorists while simultaneously trying to use a few of them to arrange the pieces on the Middle East chess board in one’s own interests”, Putin said at a meeting of political scientists known as the Valdai Club.

Before the United Nations General Assembly in September, Putin urged the audience to “finally acknowledge that Assad and the Kurds are valiantly fighting the Islamic State and other terrorist organizations in Syria”.

While the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq has made it clear it neither trusts Syrian Kurdish groups nor the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Marxist terrorist organization with ties to the PYD, its leaders appear ready to work with Russian Federation. “For this reason, we called for our future meetings to be held in a more representative format that would include a range of regional powers”, Lavrov said after the meeting.

The US-led air campaign against the so-called Islamic State had led to IS controlling two-thirds of the country’s territory, Mr Peskov argued, but there were now signs the Syrian army – backed by Russian air strikes – was mounting a successful offensive against rebels.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later declined to comment on whether Assad’s future in Syria had been discussed during the encounter. “I would like to know what the difference is”, he said from the Russian resort city of Sochi on Thursday. Lavrov said he hoped Iran, as well as Egypt, would be invited to the next round of talks.

Lavrov, however, struck out at the “fixation” with Assad among the other participants and said “the fate of the president of Syria must be decided by the Syrian people”.

A fair settlement of the Syrian crisis requires patience and searching for compromise, Sergei Lavrov said.

The Russian foreign minister said other countries could also join such a mechanism.

“Despite the years that have passed, I want to say that during his latest visit to Moscow President Bashar al-Assad was as calm and sober minded as five years ago”.

A high-tension meeting between Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, and Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s defence minister, a fortnight ago effectively ended attempts at co-operation between the two countries over Syria.

“Support for actions of the Russian military in Syria is an approval rating of a television program rather than an indicator of the mobilization of Russian society”, Levada Centre researcher Denis Volkov told AFP. “But the destiny of the country remains in the hands of the Syrian people”, he continued.

Asked whether Assad can have a role in any transitional government in Syria, Jubeir said the only way for him to help end the war would be to leave. “Bashar al-Assad is not the solution, he is the problem”. “We have to see Turkish full participation in this anti-ISIL coalition, especially allowing for the air bases to be used”, he said.

Mr Peskov said the West had so far failed to identify any “balanced opposition” to Mr Assad that did not have links to jihadists.