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On May 24, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said during the ongoing St. Petersburg International Economic Forum that the Damascus government will hand over a list of its representatives to the Syrian constitutional committee to the UN within 48 hours. The establishment of this committee was one of the main results of the Syrian National Dialogue Conference held in January.
The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister revealed that the committee will not include representatives of the Damascus government and the opposition as well as a group of experts. According to Bogdanov, it is unknown yet when the committee will begin its work.
“I think that we will work closely with all parties, including the Syrian government, in the light of the results of President Bashar al-Assad’s visit to Russia, and our other partners, including the two guarantors [Turkey and Iran],” RT quoted Bogdanov as saying during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Bogdanov also hoped that the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in Syria will be held under the constitution that will be written by the new committee.
“I think it makes sense, of course, to hold presidential and possibly parliamentary and other elections, on the basis of agreements reached on constitutional reforms,” Bogdanov said.
Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad agreed to send representatives to the constitutional committee during his meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on May 17.
Despite the Bogdanov’s remarks, local observers believe that the constitutional committee mission will fail, as the government and the opposition failed to agree on any point during the previous rounds of the Geneva talks.
It says ‘Syria will appoint,’ so is that an election (only possible in certain areas) or does that mean Assad and his deputies? What sort of powers will this committee have? What is meant by “constitutional reforms?” I don’t think anyone knows the answer to these questions.
The Syrian junta will choose… for SF, B. Al-Asad (+kite and kin) is Syria just as Putin is Russia. And that’s an impossible sentence: “the committee will not include representatives of the Damascus government and the opposition as well as a group of experts”. Lost?
just a typo.
Assad would only move aside once every inch of Syria is reclaimed. That is the Ba’ath ideology, frankly any sovereign nation’s ideology. A federation may exist on the short term, but as this 2nd cold war goes on, USA would give up on Syria and focus elsewhere. The Syrians won after the liberation of Aleppo almost two years ago.