Al-Sharq Al-Awsat: Washington has made “tempting” offers to Russia over the past years to reach a solution in Syria

Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper published a report in which it talked about the details of non-public negotiations between Moscow and Washington on several issues, foremost of which is the Syrian issue.

The newspaper stated in its report that Washington had made offers to Moscow on Syria during the past years in formal and informal negotiations, as many unannounced rounds of negotiations took place in the Austrian capital, Vienna, between 2019 and 2020.

The newspaper revealed that those negotiations were attended by the American envoy to Syria James Jeffrey and the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Farshinin, and that since negotiations began years ago between the two parties, the United States often presented proposals, ideas and papers to Russia.

The newspaper explained that the most prominent negotiating paper was presented by James Jeffrey to Russia in the spring of 2019, noting that it was a “tempting” American offer to Russia, and the paper included a clear map of Washington’s demands to Moscow in preparation for the summit of Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Japan in June 2020.

The newspaper added that the United States wanted to remove the Iranian militias and all the forces that entered Syria after 2011, in addition to stripping the Assad regime of chemical weapons, and pushing the process of political settlement in Syria under UN Security Council Resolution 2254.

The American offer also included moving the Constitutional Committee process and a comprehensive ceasefire at the level of Syria, as well as providing procedures for the voluntary, dignified and safe return of Syrian refugees, in conjunction with the cessation of arrests and the release of detainees.

The newspaper pointed out that the return that Washington will grant to Moscow in the event of the implementation of the US requests, includes exemptions from sanctions, and the cessation of additional sanctions on Russia.

It also included America’s lifting of restrictions on normalization with the Assad regime, and allowing countries wishing to participate in the reconstruction process in Syria to contribute to financing the process, in addition to working to provide Syria with electricity from Jordan, and to provide aid to areas controlled by the Assad regime.

The newspaper noted that the American offer was detailed, including mutual implementation steps between the two parties within the framework of specific timetables, and that Moscow’s response to the offer submitted by Washington was “satisfied with giving vague signals and ambiguous words, and some false promises.”