Russia presented a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that condemned the violence in Syria after nine months of protests and 5,000 deaths in that country. The proposal, which demands that "all parties in Syria immediately stop any violence irrespective of where it comes from," followed months of deadlock over whether and how the Security Council should respond to the ongoing crisis.
But while the draft resolution may represent a step closer to compromise, the debate over what comes next will continue, says Richard Gowan, an associate director at New York University's Center on International Cooperation.
"I think this is all really about how the different sides see what is happening," Gowan said, explaining that the BRIC countries "are trying to portray this as a civil war in which it is not just about a government attacking its civilians."