BEIRUT — The main Syrian exile opposition group refused on Friday to attend a meeting in Moscow that would have brought it face to face with Syrian government officials for the first time, albeit in an informal, technical gathering to address the country’s humanitarian crisis.
The refusal drew sharp criticism from Moscow, which blames the opposition group for paralyzing diplomatic efforts to end Syria’s civil war with its insistence that President Bashar Assad step down as a precondition for any talks. That includes the negotiations known as Geneva II that Russia and the United States are struggling to arrange, so far without success.
The US-backed exile group, the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, issued a statement denouncing Russia for inviting other opponents of Assad that it considers too close to the government, including some who have declared that they are more willing to compromise.
Many in the opposition — including the National Coalition — view Russia’s efforts to involve such groups as a ploy to bolster Assad.
But independent analysts monitoring the conflict see the prospects of Assad stepping down ahead of talks as increasingly unrealistic, and as Washington shifts its focus to disarming Syria of its chemical weapons, there is little sign that it will provide enough military support to the rebels to change the president’s calculus. Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis is deepening, with 9 million Syrians forced from their homes, about 40 percent of the population, and more than 100,000 dead.
While Syrians on both sides of the conflict voice a mounting desire to end the war, the fractious coalition is stuck between insurgent groups that have called negotiations an act of treason and a growing number of opposition activists who have reluctantly concluded that compromise is urgent to save lives. Neither group puts much faith in the coalition, which many say does not represent them.
Moscow invited an array of self-described opposition figures, some of whose anti-Assad credentials are stronger than others. One is Haytham al-Manaa, a leader of an opposition group that rejects the armed insurgency but has consistently opposed the government and has had many of its members jailed. Others include Qadri Jamil, who until last week was Assad’s deputy prime minister, and Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of Assad’s who played a leading role in the bloody suppression of a violent Islamist uprising in the Syrian city of Hama in 1982 and was later exiled for trying to lead a coup.
The coalition statement said that the Russians were “reinforcing the efforts of the Assad regime to present an opposition that they created in its own image; an opposition that never once defended the rights of the Syrian people.” It said Russia could not be a broker in the conflict when it is strongly supporting Assad politically, financially, and militarily.
The refusal appeared to reflect disagreement within the coalition and between it and its US sponsors. Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, had said Thursday that the opposition had responded positively to the proposal for the informal talks.