Putin at center of diplomatic blitz on Syria

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin worked Wednesday to place himself in the center of efforts to bring a Syrian cease-fire, speaking by phone to the leaders of Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran and drawing promises of cooperation, according to the Kremlin.

In a rapid-fire series of conversations, Putin bridged both sides of the conflict - Iran and Russia back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi Arabia sides with rebel factions - and portrayed himself as bolstering the chances of a cessation of hostilities agreed to by Washington and Moscow earlier this week.

Assad called the proposals in the deal "an important step towards political settlement," the Kremlin said in a statement. He also "confirmed the Syrian government's readiness to facilitate the cease-fire's implementation."

But significant doubts remained about the viability of the plan, scheduled to go into effect midnight Friday. Leading Syrian opposition groups have not yet committed to the deal. And both Russia and the United States say they will continue independent efforts to fight the Islamic State and an al-Qaeda-linked faction, Jabhat al-Nusra.

For months, Moscow has said it was battling the Islamic State, but Russian air strikes also have targeted rebel groups, including some backed by the United States. Both Russia and Assad have labeled a broad swath of opponents of the Syrian government as terrorists.

Putin has seized on the cease-fire deal as a diplomatic victory for Russia and one that places Russia on the same superpower bargaining level as the United States, long a Kremlin goal. Wednesday's phone calls appeared to be a continuation of that effort.

The joint discussions between the United States and Russia on Syria are leading "to a higher level of mutual confidence," Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday, the Interfax new agency reported. "At the same time, I'll repeat, once again, that the main goal in this case is to stop bloodshed in Syria, and so lay the groundwork for approaching a political settlement."

Despite the Kremlin assurances that U.S. and Russian relations are improving as a result of the discussions, there have been mixed feelings in Washington about the accord.