So who are Syria’s real friends?

Russia has declined an invitation to take part in a conference titled “Friends of Syria”, which is due to take place in Tunisia on February 24.

“There are a number of points related to this conference which have raised many eyebrows in Russia,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich says. “Russia has reasons to doubt whether this conference could really contribute to solving the outgoing crisis in Syria.”

“The invitation received by Russia looked quite official,” Mr. Lukashevich continues. “However, no one officially advised Russia what the agenda would be and who else would take part.”

“Still, we received information from unofficial sources that the conference’s organizers had not invited representatives of Syria’s incumbent authorities. Representatives of the Syrian opposition were the only parties to have been invited to represent Syria. It is common knowledge that a large part of the Syrian public are loyal to Bashar al-Assad’s regime, but their interests won’t be represented at the conference in Tunisia.”

“It looks like the reason the conference has been organized was to form an international coalition which would back the Syrian opposition,” Mr. Lukashevich concludes. “We have already witnessed a similar scenario in and around Libya. At that time, a so-called “Contact Group for Libya” was set up, which, in fact, only supported one side in the Libyan conflict – the opposition.”

The decision to hold the Syria’s Friends conference was made by the League of Arab States in mid February. There have also been reports that the Arab League was planning to recognize the opposition National Syrian Council as Syria’s legitimate government.

In an interview with the Voice of Russia, independent Syrian journalist Taha Abdul Wahed said that the real aim of these so-called “Friends of Syria” is to put pressure on Syria’s current authorities.

“This conference is, in fact, just another attempt by the Arab League to impose its will on President Assad’s regime, after failing to secure a UN resolution to this effect.”

 “As you probably know,” Mr. Abdul Wahed continued, “the draft of the UN Security Council’s resolution on Syria was, to a large extent, based on the Arab League’s proposals. But this resolution was not adopted because Russia and China had vetoed it.”

“I am confident that Bashar Assad’s government will be very grateful to Russia for its decision not to take part in the Tunisian conference,” the Syrian journalist said. “Syria’s authorities are looking upon this conference as a plot against Syria.”

“The Syrian opposition and its supporters might now decide that Russia has taken Bashar Assad’s side,” Russian analyst Evgeny Satanovsky says. “Let me assure them that this is not the case. Russia is not taking any sides in this conflict, it believes it has no right to do so.”

Russia is calling on the world to join efforts to persuade the conflicting sides in Syria to engage in a dialogue. However, the position taken by the US and a number of European countries raises doubts as to whether they really want peace in Syria.