29 Mar 2024
Wednesday 2 September 2015 - 09:51
Story Code : 178663

Russian FM urges end to calls for Assad resignation

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has called for an end tounrealistic and illogical demands for the resignation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

If we remove from the equation the entirely unrealistic and counterproductive demand of the resignation of Assad as a precondition for the fight against terrorism... we may work effectively, Lavrov was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency on Tuesday.

He went on to say that the West has double standards when it comes to the legitimacy of Assad.
It simply cannot be that, for the purpose of the destruction of chemical weapons Assad is legitimate, and for the purpose of fighting against terrorism he is not. It is not logical, Lavrov said.


[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"] Syrian President Bashar al-Assad[/caption]

 

Russian officials have on numerous occasions underscored that Moscow does not support Assad personally, but rather backs him as "the legitimately elected president" of Syria.

This is while Iran has also announcedits support forthe Syrian government, with IranianDeputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stressingin a Tuesday meeting with the United Nations special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, in the Lebanese capital of Beirut that the Syrian leaderremainsinstrumental in the settlement of the ongoingconflict in his country.

We regard Mr. Bashar al-Assad as part of the solution in Syria and he is part of any political solution in the future of Syria, he added.

This comes as theUS Department ofState released a statement on Friday, saying that the resignation of Assad is an important part ofthe fight againstthe Daesh terrorist group.

The conflict in Syria, which started in March 2011, has reportedly claimed more than 240,000 lives up until now.

The violence has also forced over fourmillion Syrians to take refuge in neighboring countries, including Jordan and Lebanon. More than 7.2 million others have been displaced internally, according to UN figures.

By Press TV
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