Russia denies reports of proposal for Assad ouster
Russia has denied reports that the Kremlin proposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up power in 2012.
“This can be very easily checked by date - from the very beginning of the Syrian crisis Russia has repeated at various levels that only the Syrian people and only by means of democratic procedures can determine their future," the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Wednesday.
The statement came in response to an interview published on the website of the British daily The Guardian on Tuesday in which former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari revealed the details of a private meeting in 2012 where Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin had allegedly urged “an elegant way for Assad to step aside.”
Peskov, quoted by TASS state news agency, rejected the comments, saying, “I can only once more repeat that Russia is not involved in changing regimes. Suggesting that someone step aside - elegantly or not - is something Russia has never done.”
The United States and its allies have in recent weeks stepped up their propaganda about Russia’s military aid to Syria. Moscow reacted by saying that it has never kept its military cooperation with Syria a secret and that “military specialists” are openly being sent to the Arab state, where forces of the Assad government are engaged in heavy battles with foreign-backed Takfiri terrorists.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday reiterated his government’s full support for Syria, saying he will continue to provide the government in Damascus with military equipment it needs in its ongoing battle against terror.
“If Russia had not supported Syria, the situation in the country would have been worse than in Libya and the refugees flow would have been even greater,” Putin said, adding, "But today, as I’ve already said, it is essential to pool efforts by the Syrian government, the Kurdish militias, the moderate opposition and other countries in the region in the struggle against the threat to the very statehood of Syria and against terrorism.”
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