A Russian official has said Moscow will not insist on Syrian President Bashar al Assad remaining in power, despite supporting his government with airstrikes.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharov told Ekho Moskvy radio that it was "absolutely not" crucial that Mr Assad, who visited Moscow last month, remained in control in the future.
"We've never said that," she said.
"What we did say is a regime change in Syria could become a local or even regional catastrophe," she said, adding that "only the Syrian people can decide the president's fate".
Later, she told the TASS news agency that the remarks were not a change in position.
Russia began airstrikes against opposition groups in September at Mr Assad's request. It has carried out 1,631 sorties, hitting 2084 targets since then, Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday.
"The assumption in Washington at the highest level was this was all about protecting the man as much as the regime," said Sky's foreign affairs editor Sam Kiley.
"There does seem to be a slight shift in the Russian position - in line with what Tehran was offering last week at the Vienna talks ... they proposed a six-month transition leading to general elections that Bashar al Assad may or may not contest."
Moscow has insisted it is targeting fighters from Islamist groups, such as Islamic State, but critics have said raids have hit civilians and moderate groups, such as the Free Syrian Army.
Russia is planning to host talks between Syrian government officials and opposition leaders next week.
However, it is unclear what opposition groups might attend.
Earlier, the British Government denied reports it had ruled out calling a parliamentary vote on British airstrikes in Syria.
It was suggested Prime Minister David Cameron had scrapped his plans after failing to win enough support from Labour MPs to counter opposition from within his own benches and because Russian strikes were complicating the conflict.
But No 10 Downing Street said he was still seeking the support of MPs to enable military intervention.
