THE INTRA-SYRIAN NEGOTIATION PROCESS AND THE SYRIAN POLITICAL OPPOSITION M. S. KHODYNSKAYA-GOLENISHCHEVA Candidate of Historical Sciences, Second Secretary of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN and Other International Organizations in Geneva Keywords: Syria, crisis, political settlement, UN, multipolarity The situation in Syria continues to deteriorate. The Syrian conflict has become one of the most devastating since the 1994 Rwandan genocide.1 More than 200,000 people were killed, about 8 million internally displaced persons, and more than 3 million refugees. A third of the country's territory has been captured by Islamic State militants. The inter-Syrian talks in Geneva in early 2014 did not lead to the launch of a comprehensive political process due to the inability of the Syrian opposition delegation to negotiate. Currently, Russia is making attempts to launch a stable inter-Syrian dialogue. At the beginning of 2015, consultations were held in Moscow on the initiative of the Russian side between representatives of official Damascus and opponents of Bashar al-Assad. The next rounds of Moscow contacts are planned. These efforts are especially in demand in the context of an unprecedented surge in the terrorist threat in the Middle East and rampant odious jihadist groups: the Islamic State (IS), Jabhat al-Nusra, etc., which directly threatens the existence of Syria and the security of the region. In this context, it is interesting to analyze the Syrian opposition parties and movements. It is important to establish whose interests they pursue, which of them can play a useful role in the settlement process, and who seeks to further destabilize the situation in order to achieve narrowly opportunistic goals. SYRIA'S POLITICAL SYSTEM Modern-day Syria is characterized by a strong presidential rule based on the army and special services. This political system developed under President Hafez al-Assad (1971-2000) and was largely conditioned by the stat ... Read more