MOSCOW, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Russia's offer of a new U.N. Security Council resolution on the violence in Syria is a pragmatic step by a country increasingly isolated in its support for a widely discredited leader.
The shift allows Russia to look less recalcitrant without giving ground on its opposition to sanctions or foreign military interference, which it has vociferously opposed since the NATO operation in Libya.
With the death toll mounting in bloodshed the world blames mostly on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Kremlin is under increasing pressure to abandon a government that has given Moscow one of its firmest footholds in the Middle East.
It took a small step in that direction on Thursday, circulating a draft resolution that refers to "disproportionate use of force" by the Syrian authorities and urges them to stop "the suppression of those exercising their rights".
In the short term, analysts said, Russia sees that it must distance itself from Assad in the eyes of the world.
"Russia is changing its position because to completely defend the Syrian regime is impossible given that everyone is against it, including practically all the Arab nations," said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the journal Russia in Global Affairs.
"The point is to show that Russia favours a settlement but is not a protector of Assad's regime," he said.
Russia has hosted Syrian opposition groups in recent months, but has rebuffed their pleas to press Assad to step down. Its diplomats have frequently said his opponents share much of the blame for the bloodshed.
In October, Russia and China used their veto power as permanent U.N. Security Council members to block passage of a Western-drafted resolution that would have condemned Syria's government, calling it one-sided.
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