Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (4th R) meets with visiting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem (4th L) in Moscow, Russia, on April 13, 2017. Xinhua/SIPA USA/PA Images. All rights reserved.Russia’s dramatic entry into the Syrian Civil War in September 2015 had many reasons but essentially left the Russians with the responsibility of being prime guarantor for how the conflict ends.
This emerged more clearly during the January 2017 talks in Astana when the Russian delegation tabled a draft constitution for a post-conflict Syrian state which, not unlike the US guided constitution-making process in Iraq in 2005, is a curious attempt to impose an external power’s constitutional experience on a divided state.
Accordingly, the draft constitution reveals more about Russia and its views of what’s best for Syria, than what the Syrians themselves might possibly contemplate.
