SOCHI, Russia (Dispatches) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said here Wednesday there’s a "real chance” to end the six-and-half-year war in Syria as he met his counterparts from Iran and Turkey seeking to seal a peace deal that is to keep President Bashar al-Assad in power.
Putin’s summit talks with Iran’s Hassan Rouhani and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan in this Black Sea resort came just two days after he hosted Assad in a surprise visit.
The Russian leader also spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump and leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the occupying regime of Israel and Egypt as the Kremlin rallies international support for a diplomatic drive.
"The militants in Syria have been dealt a decisive blow and a real chance has appeared to bring an end to many years of civil war,” Putin said, adding that a political settlement in Syria is now the "strategic task.”
Assad confirmed his commitment to a political process including a new constitution and the holding of parliamentary and presidential elections, the Kremlin said in a statement after the call with Trump.
Iran, Russia and Turkey are taking the dominant role in efforts to end the bloody war against a range of armed foes including Takfiri terrorists and other militants supported by the U.S. and its allies. That has left the U.S., which under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama pushed for Assad’s ouster, on the sidelines.
Turkey, which had long sought Assad’s ouster, now is seeking a freer hand to fight U.S.-backed Kurdish militants in Syria.  
"Critical decisions” will be made in Sochi, Erdogan said. The Syrian people won’t allow foreigners to interfere in their domestic affairs, Rouhani said.
In the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Syrian opposition groups also met Wednesday to discuss forming a single bloc to negotiate with Assad. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told state-run television that the kingdom would support the Syrian opposition groups to "emerge united” from the Riyadh meeting.
The leader of the main Syrian opposition group, which is backed by the West, resigned unexpectedly Monday. A unified platform including factions close to Moscow will be a "tame” counterparty for the Syrian government at the negotiating table, according to Robert Ford, a former U.S. ambassador to Syria who’s now a fellow at Yale University and the Middle East Institute in Washington.
The political process "won’t be easy,” said Putin. "It will require compromises and concessions from all sides, including the Syrian government. I am counting on Russia, Iran and Turkey making the utmost effort to ensure this brings results.”
Russia, while backing Assad, is likely to insist he accepts a new constitution that strips away some of his powers, said Sami Nader, head of the Beirut-based Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs.
"In any case he will remain in power but he will be a very much weakened Assad,” Nader said by phone.