Lavrov says Syrians should decide Assad’s fate themselves

MOSCOW, August 11. /TASS/. Syrians themselves should decide the fate of President Bashar Assad during the dialogue involving all the parties concerned aimed at defining the key features of the transitional period in the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. "We have differences on the fate of Syrian President Bashar Assad," Lavrov said after talks with his Saudi Arabian counterpart Adel al-Jubeir in Moscow on Tuesday. "Our position is that all the issues of the transitional period should be solved by Syrians based on a dialogue," he said. Al-Jubeir said: "We do not see a place for Assad in Syria’s future," adding that Riyadh believes that Assad is to blame for the emergence of the Islamic State terrorist group. "The question is whether this will occur peacefully, with the use of a transitional council or militarily. We take steps to minimize the casualties among the Syrian people," he said. "Our stance differs from the Russian one as the Russian side insists that Assad’s future should be defined by the inter-Syrian dialogue," he said. "As for the transitional period and preserving the state structures - here we have no differences with Russia," the minister added. Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier that only the Syrian people have the right to demand Assad’s resignation. According to Putin, Moscow’s position in the support of Syria’s incumbent president is based on the apprehension that otherwise the Syrian situation might repeat the Libyan or Iraqi scenario. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov also said that in Moscow’s view, "the current Syrian leadership is a real and viable force in the confrontation with the Islamic State." Read more