Putin convinced Assad ready for dialogue with opposition

SOCHI, October 22. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he is convinced that Syrian President Bashar Assad is ready for dialogue with the opposition. "The Syrian conflict was caused by not only the fight against militants and terrorist aggression, although it is evident and the terrorists just made use of difficulties in Syria. It is necessary to separate the terrorist threat from domestic political problems," Putin said at a meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club. He said "the Syrian leadership should establish working contacts with those opposition forces that are ready for dialogue." "As I understood from my conversation with President Assad the day before yesterday, he is ready for such a dialogue," Putin said. Putin and Assad held talks October 20. The Russian head of state assured his Syrian counterpart that Moscow’s position on Syria is unchanged: long-term settlement may only be achieved on the basis of political process with participation of all political forces, ethnic and religious groups. He also confirmed Russia’s readiness to make its contribution to the fight against terrorism. In turn, Assad thanked Putin for his assistance to Syria. In his view, terrorism, which the region is currently fighting, is a real obstacle on the way to political settlement in the country. Assad’s visit to the Russian Federation became his first foreign trip since the aggravation of the Syrian crisis in 2011. Russia’s Aerospace Forces started delivering pinpoint strikes at facilities of the Islamic State terrorist organization in Syria on September 30. The air group comprises over 50 aircraft and helicopters, including Sukhoi Su-24M, Su-25SM and state-of-the-art Su-34 aircraft. Hundreds of terrorist facilities have been hit by Russian aircraft. On October 7, four missile ships of the Russian Navy’s Caspian Flotilla fired 26 Kalibr cruise missiles (NATO codename Sizzler) at militants’ facilities in Syria. On October 8, the Syrian army passed to a large-scale offensive. Russia’s Armed Forces act on a request from Syrian President Bashar Assad. The Russian Federation does not plan to take part in ground operations in Syria. According to UN statistics, fighting between Syrian government troops and militants has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced millions since its start in 2011. An international peace conference on Syria, dubbed Geneva-2, organized by Russia and the United States and designed to negotiate a solution to the Syrian crisis, held in January and February 2014, brought no particular progress. Read more