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January 2013

Although Moscow insists its official stand toward Syria hasn’t changed a bit, there are increasing signs that speak differently

Mark N. Katz

While still firmly opposed to any form of Western military intervention in Syria, there have recently been signs that Moscow is trying to dissociate itself from the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Although Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov stated on November 6,2012 in Amman, Jordan that, “we have no plans to change” Russian foreign policy toward Syria, three days later an unnamed “high-level” Russian diplomatic source told the Russian daily newspaper Izvestiathat “Assad’s departure” was one possible outcome of the ongoing conflict.