Reports from Reuters today suggest that Russia is preparing a broad proposal for the next round of Vienna talks on Syria, looking to launch an 18-month reform program in the nation, including broad revisions to the constitution, and leading to a free election.
The document is said to envision a president with full control of the military and special forces, as well as foreign policy in the nation. The Russian government has denied the authenticity of the document, but did not deny that a reform plan was in the works.
Russia has long sought to get moderate rebel factions to join some sort of interim unity government, leading to reforms and a free election as a way to end the civil war without an internationally imposed regime change. The lack of regime change almost certainly means the US and Britain are going to oppose the plan, however.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond was already lashing the reform plan based merely on reports of what would be proposed, saying that there was no way to end the civil war without guarantees that President Bashar al-Assad would not be allowed to participate in future elections.
Never lose sight of the fact that all Putin is interested in is keeping his naval base. He doesn't care one whit about Syria or the Syrians. He always tries to get what he wants by military force. When he fails, and only then, he starts trying to "negotiate".Thus, he clearly regards his military campaign as a failuer and is, unsurprisingly, proposing something which will keep Assad in power for another 18 months. This is exactly the same sort of "stall and hang on" tactic he has used in Ukraine, so I doubt if it will fool anybody. The way to put him to ythe test is to counter-propose that Assad can stay for the 18 months if Putin withdraws immediately from the naval base! He will, of course, refuse, but it would be fun to see him trying to wriggle out! In practice, the present situation, is actually more favourable to the US than any sort of settlement inasmuch as it keeps Putin bogged down, with the consequences we saw in Sinai.