Russia has today submitted to the UN Security Council a draft Resolution making the memorandum on ‘de-escalation areas’ signed by Russia, Turkey and Iran a formal UN document.
Alongside the agreement in Astana between Russia, Turkey and Iran to set up ‘de-escalation areas’ in Syria, it is clear that diplomatic contacts between the US and Russia about Syria have intensified significantly in recent days, with the White House and the Kremlin engaging in the first positive interactions they have had since Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.
The Russian proposal to create ‘de-escalation areas’ in Syria has triggered further fears of Syria’s fragmentation, with the ‘de-escalation areas’ seen as providing the building blocks for the ‘federalisation’ of Syria supposedly envisaged by the draft constitution for Syria which the Russians circulated to the participants of the Astana conference a few weeks ago.
These fears are by no means unfounded. There are many factors within Syria that work against the reunification of the country into a unitary state. However I doubt the Russians are one of them.
Publication of the Memorandum setting up the ‘de-escalation areas’ signed by the representatives of Russia, Turkey and Iran at the Astana conference, together with certain comments about them by representatives of the Russian and Syrian governments, have clarified their intended purpose.
