Russia to reportedly propose 18-month reform process in Syria

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia wants the Syrian government and opposition to agree on launching a constitutional reform process of up to 18 months, followed by early presidential elections, a draft document obtained by Reuters showed on Tuesday, November 10, the news agency reports.

The eight-point proposal, drawn up by Moscow before international talks on Syria this week, does not rule out President Bashar al-Assad's participation in the elections - something his foes say is impossible if there is to be peace.

"(The) popularly elected president of Syria will have the functions of commander-in-chief of the armed forces, control of special services and foreign policy," the document said.

A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman denied that any document was being prepared by Russia for the international meeting on Syria this week in Vienna. "This information does not correspond to reality," said the spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova.

The document said the Syrian sides should agree on such steps at a future conference to be organized by the United Nations and added that the reform process would not be chaired by Assad, but by a candidate agreed by all sides.

The Western stand on Assad means that the Russian proposals are likely to run into stiff opposition.

"How can we bring peace to a country that went through a vicious civil war in which 250-300,000 people died without removing the cause of that civil war?" British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond asked on Monday.

"We do not believe that it is going to be possible to bring the opposition groups into the political process and have an effective ceasefire unless we have a clear point at which President Assad will depart," he told reporters at the United Nations.

The document said the Syrian opposition that takes part in the political process must form a "united delegation" and be agreed beforehand.

"(They should) share the goals of preventing terrorists from coming to power in Syria and of ensuring sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of Syria, as well as (the) secular and democratic character of the state."

"Our preparations for the Vienna meeting are based on the document that was adopted on October 30," she said, referring to the previous meeting in Vienna.