Moscow has admitted the possibility that the Syrian opposition may emerge victorious as government forces continue to lose more territory as the conflict rages on, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said.

“We must face the facts: the current tendency shows that the government is progressively losing control over an increasing part of the territory,” Bogdanov told the Public Chamber. “An opposition victory can’t be ruled out.”

Later, in an interview with PBS in the United States addressing Bogdanov’s comments, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said that he interpreted his comments as mainly meaning that the “Syrian government seems to be losing ground in fighting with the opposition.”

Churkin added that he doesn’t believe the fighting will end any time soon, however. He also said that even if Assad were to be toppled, sectarian tensions and other fighting would likely continue within a dangerous, unstable Syria for a long period of time. 

“So, something of this sort could well be happening in Syria even after the so-called victory of the opposition,” he said.“My point is that a political outcome, a political deal continues to be urgently needed in the situation in Syria.”

Churkin reiterated that Russia is in support of a political deal brokered by representatives from rebels and the Syrian government as it has been throughout the conflict. 

The Deputy Foreign Minister warned that Syria would most likely suffer heavy casualties in the tens of thousands from the ensuing violence.

“If such a price for the removal of the president seems acceptable to you, what can we do? We, of course, consider it absolutely unacceptable.”

Bogdanov, addressing the “behavior by some of our partners,” pointed to the disturbing incidence of arms supplies flowing into the embattled country, which he warned “incite the Syrian rebels to make a stake on using force.”

These developments only lead to escalating violence, which hinder the implementation of the goals (the peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis), the high-ranking diplomat added.

Other Russian officials also weighed in on the deteriorating situation in Syria following the Friends of Syria meeting, which was held in Marrakesh, Morocco, on Wednesday. The delegates officially recognized the ‘National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces’ as the only representative of the Syrian people.

Alexei Pushkov, the State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, believes the decision makes the prospects for a peaceful resolution to the conflict exceedingly grim. 

“Recognition of the Syrian opposition as ‘legitimate’ authorities by the ‘Friends of Syria’ gives up on any attempts to find a political solution. The only option now is war,” Pushkov wrote on his Twitter account on Thursday.

Many Russian diplomats view this latest development as a major setback in the Syrian conflict, arguing that the newly recognized coalition does not adequately represent the political will of the Syrian people.

Pushkov then hinted at what could transpire in the event that the militants resort to violence against Russian consulate officials and civilians in the region.

“Syrian militants have threatened to attack the embassies of Russia and Ukraine in Damascus to ‘take care of’ the Russians. The U.S. sends special operations forces in such cases,” he warned.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said recognition of the opposition coalition hinders efforts to establish a smooth political transition in Syria.

“As the coalition has been recognized as the only legitimate representative, it seems that the United States decided to place all bets on the armed victory of this very national coalition,” Lavrov said.

Moscow, which warned its western partners that “Syria is not Libya,” is fiercely opposed to any outside military interference in the conflict.

Meanwhile, Interfax-AVN, quoting a military-diplomatic source, reported if the situation in Syria becomes critical they are prepared to help Russians there via sea transport or aircraft. 

“We want to commend the Russian government for finally waking up to the reality and acknowledging that the regime’s days are numbered,” the U.S. State Department spokeswoman said after a senior Kremlin envoy conceded publicly on Thursday that Assad’s opponents could win the 20-month-old civil war.

“The question now is, will the Russian government join those of us in the international community who are working with the opposition to try to have a smooth democratic transition?” U.S. spokeswoman Victoria Nuland added in Washington.

In Marrakech, where his new coalition won recognition from other international powers as the legitimate leadership of Syria, rebel political leader Mouaz al-Khatib said he believed Russia, ally and arms supplier to the Assad dynasty since Soviet times, was looking for ways out of its support for a lost cause. 

Under President Vladimir Putin, wary since last year’s Libyan war of what Russia sees as a Western drive to use the United Nations to overthrow national leaders it dislikes, Russia has blocked U.N. efforts to squeeze Assad, who has also had strong support from his long-time sponsor Iran.

Nuland said Bogdanov’s comments demonstrated that Moscow now “sees the writing on the wall” on Syria and said Russia should now rally behind U.N. efforts to prevent a wider bloodbath.

International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who has met Russian and U.S. officials twice in the past week, is seeking a solution based on an agreement reached in Geneva in June that called for the creation of a transitional government in Syria. He’s expected to go to Damascus to meet with Assad in the next few days and will ask whether he will accept a modified Geneva plan. The plan, according to U.S. and British sources, will remove Assad from the government and a transitional government will be formed from the opposition and members of his inner circle that did not have any role in quelling the uprising. The agreement would end the fighting if it goes through and is approved by Assad, but it is expected to be rejected as similar offers have been in the past. Russia has already tried three times to get Assad to accept a deal but Bogdanov said that he doesn’t always listen to their advice. 

Another snag could come in getting the rebels to accept a deal, as they are expected to reject the plan. 

According to the same sources, Russia’s position remains unchanged; they would like to see Assad remain in his position during the transitional period. They reportedly added that they would not mind taking some of Assad’s power and giving it to the transitional team, however, and said they would not allow him to run for president again after 2014. The changes in Russia’s position are said to be in response to the changes on the ground as Damascus has begun losing control especially in the north and on the outskirts of the capital, although things could change and they are monitoring the situation closely to determine how to react. 

Russia has repeatedly warned that recognition of al-Khatib’s coalition, notably by the United States, is undermining diplomacy, and rejected U.S. contentions that the Geneva agreement sent a clear message that Assad should step down.

Nuland said the Brahimi meetings could lay the framework for a political structure to follow Assad. 

The head of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said elsewhere: “I think the regime in Damascus is approaching collapse.”

A U.S. official said: “Assad probably still believes that Syria is his and illusions can die hard. But Assad and those closest to him have got to be feeling the psychological strain of fighting a long war that is not going their way.”

But Al-Khatib, who played down Western concerns of sectarian Sunni Islamists in rebel ranks, warned that the fighting was far from over, even as it has begun to rattle the heart of Assad’s power in Damascus. On Wednesday, a car bomb killed at least 16 people in a nearby town which is home to many military families.

“The noose is tightening around the regime,” al-Khatib said.

“(But) the regime still has power. People think that the regime is finished, but it still has power left, but it is demoralized and however long it lasted its end is clear.”

Nonetheless, al-Khatib played down demands for their allies to provide heavier weaponry – a request long resisted by governments wary of anti-aircraft missiles and other hardware reaching Islamist rebels who might turn them against the West. The rebel leadership reportedly is not too concerned about such a possibility, and is mostly concerned about taking out the regime of Assad.

“The Syrian people … no longer need international forces to protect them,” he said, not specifying whether he meant a no-fly zone, arms supplies or other military support.

Al-Khatib ruled out the Russian proposal suggesting Assad hand over power to a transitional government while remaining president, saying it was “disgraceful for a slaughtered nation to accept to have a killer and criminal at its head”.

-RT, Reuters, TAAN