Russia enjoys a close relationship with the Assad-regime and is allowed to use syrian harbours for its military fleet in the Mediterranean Sea.

Please remember how fast Putin brokered a deal with Assad to get of his chemical weapons IN THE MIDST OF A BLOODY CIVIL-WAR.
So why THE F**K isn't Russia using this leverage to encourage negotiations between the regime and the rebels???

Could it be, oh could it be, that Mother Russia, the bastion of moral, Christianity and all that is good, doesn't actually care?
Could it be that they are afraid of alienating whoever might be in charge a few years from now?

US policy is to inflame the civil war/
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/12/syria-ready-peace-talks-with-opposition-20141227133218726448.html

Syria 'ready' for peace talks with opposition

Government official says regime willing to take part in Russian initiative but opposition expresses caution.
Last updated: 28 Dec 2014 02:49

Syria is ready to meet the country's opposition in Moscow in an effort to find a way out of the nearly four-year civil war, a government official has said.

"Syria is ready to participate in a preliminary and consultative meeting in Moscow to respond to the aspirations of Syrians who are trying to find a solution to the crisis," the foreign ministry official said on Saturday, quoted by SANA state news agency.

"The Syrian Arab Republic has always been ready for dialogue with those who believe in its unity, sovereignty and freedom of choice," the official said.

The western-backed Syrian opposition has insisted that any negotiated settlement include the formation of a transitional governing body with full executive powers, a demand rejected by President Bashar al-Assad's government.
Russia has been trying to relaunch peace talks for Syria that would include meetings between delegates of the regime and the fractured opposition.

<snip>

Moscow said on Thursday that it planned to host delegations from the Syrian opposition in late January, possibly followed by a visit by regime representatives that could bring the two sides together for talks.

Assad has said he backs the efforts by his key ally.

Joshua Landis, professor of Middle East studies at the University of Oklahoma, said the US was unlikely to throw its weight behind any Russian-initiated talks since Moscow insists that Assad should stay in power.

It would be funny if it weren't serious--one day the Putin regime claims the sanctions aren't working, the next day they are angrily denouncing them. Now they use world peace as a bargaining chip via influencing their client states of Iran and Syria over things that everyone in the sane world wants--no nuclear proliferation, no war in Syria. Putin is sick in the head, I think.

The key is going to be whether he is able to continue to hold on to power and who is successor is. He's going to need a real hardliner to some day succeed him and at the same time someone people can slobber all over like they do Putin.

He's only 62 and elections are coming up again soon. My guess is he is going to run again for another 4 year term. If he wins and serves the entire term that means he will have official served 16 years, but add another 4 if you count the time he was PM and pretty much in control anyway it is a total of 20 years (not even FDR served that long). He'll have to find that person either to run and serve as his PM or the person will have to be ready to run when the election after next come up.

leave Crimea that they invaded and stop supporting the separatists in east Ukraine. Can be done in a day.