Russian diplomats will host what Moscow is touting as a major peace conference on Syria this week, but there’s a catch: The Syrian opposition won’t be there.
Reuters reported that an opposition spokesman says the group, which seeks the removal of Syrian President Bashar Assad, won’t attend the conference in the Russian resort city of Sochi on Tuesday because it’s an attempt by Moscow to sideline a separate U.N. peace process supported by Washington, the European Union and various Arab powers.
The Trump administration has remained guarded about the Russia-led process, offering no comment on it in recent days. But Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson and other high-level State Department officials have thrown their weight behind the alternative, U.N.-led peace talks, known as the “Geneva process.”
The department issued a statement last week asserting that Mr. Tillerson had told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov via telephone that Washington hopes Russia will play a “constructive role” in the Geneva process, regardless of the alternative talks being orchestrated by Moscow.
George Sabra, a prominent figure in the Syrian political opposition, says the Russian-led talks in Sochi will be a cynical waste of time.
“[Sochi] is a project to serve Russian policy,” Mr. Sabra told Reuters. “The Russians are trying, through this congress, to find a place for themselves in the Syrian political space after putting their heavy hand on Syrian land.”
The Kremlin, which has spent recent years militarily backing the Assad regime in Syria, has dismissed the opposition’s decision to boycott the Sochi talks, which Moscow has dubbed a “Syrian Congress of National Dialogue.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call with reporters Monday that the opposition’s boycott would not seriously hinder the conference, according to Reuters.
“The fact that some representatives of the processes currently taking place in Syria are not participating is unlikely to stop this congress from going ahead and is unlikely to seriously undermine the importance of the congress,” Mr. Peskov said.
• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.
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