Putin denied Russia struggle with the Syrian rebels – Kommersant

Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with the German edition Bild called lies the assumption that the Russian air strikes on positions does the opposition in Syria. As the head of state, the video evidence of Russian actions against the opposition appeared before the operation. Mr Putin stressed that of all civilian objects Russian planes attacked only trucks, used by terrorists in Syria.

The Russian president admitted that Assad has made a lot of mistakes during the conflict in Syria, however, the president believes that the war would not have acquired such a scale without outside help. According to him, now the country needs a constitutional reform, and then presidential elections. “Only the Syrian people can decide who will govern the country in the future”, – said Putin.

Responding to a question about plans to be Russian to grant asylum to Bashar Assad, Vladimir Putin said that the preconditions to talk about it yet. He stressed that Syria Russia supports the government forces in the fight against the terrorist group “Islamic State” (IG, banned in Russia), as well as opposition forces, who have the same goals for the extremists.

Russian leader also said that Russia does not want the situation in Syria has developed as well as in Libya or Iraq. According to him, in order to avoid this you need to strive to strengthen the legitimate authority in the region. “And about: Assad ally, not an ally, what we want in Syria. You know, I’ll tell you exactly what we want: we do not want the situation in Syria has evolved as it has developed in Libya or Iraq. We must pay tribute, I have already spoken about this to President al-Sisi in Egypt. If he had not taken responsibility, has shown courage and would not take control of the country in their hands, then in Egypt could happen that in Libya took place, “- said the president.

wrote” b “, 27 December 2015, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutlogu accused Russian aviasily that with their arrival in the Syrian war has increased significantly the number of casualties among civilians. In addition, strikes against peaceful purposes videoconferencing accused Russian and international human rights organization Amnesty International – in their report indicates that Russian forces often commit war crimes in Syria. In the Kremlin, the Foreign Ministry and the Russian Ministry of Defense such charges previously always denied, calling them unsubstantiated.

For more information about the intermediate results of the Russian military operation in Syria, see the article “b” ” With all the upcoming ».