Syrian Truce May Jump-Start Political Transition – Russian Senator

Successfully reached Syrian ceasefire could help to launch a long-term political transition process, a Russian senator and the head of the Federation Council international committee said Saturday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The ongoing ceasefire in Syria could help restart a political transition process in the long term, a Russian senator and the head of the upper-house international committee said Saturday.

The US-Russia-brokered ceasefire in Syria came into effect at midnight local time on Saturday (22:00GMT Friday). It was backed by a UN resolution and 97 militant groups on the ground, according to UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura.

"These two intermediate results give hope that the truce can actually work and hold long enough to pave the way for a political settlement of the Syrian crisis," Konstantin Kosachev told RIA Novosti.

He underscored that the UN backing of the US-Russia initiative virtually ruled out any unilateral operations by Turkey or Saudi Arabia in the war-torn country.

"The next step would be forming a caretaker unity government, drafting a new constitution and creating new legitimate government institutions," Kosachev added.

The transition is expected to take up to two years and end in the creation of a transitional government that will draft a new constitution and call free UN-monitored elections within 18 months.