Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stopped short of backing Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian crisis, saying Russia had no special relationship with his regime and refusing to predict that the president would stay in power. With pressure mounting on Moscow to harden its line against Assad, Putin called on both the Damascus regime and opposition rebels to agree a ceasefire but also criticised the West for backing the rebels in the conflict.
“We have no special relationship with Syria,” Putin told foreign news executives late Thursday at a meeting at his suburban Moscow residence ahead of Sunday’s presidential elections in Russia. Asked whether Assad had a chance to survive the crisis, he added: “I do not know this, I can give no kind of assessments.” “It’s clear that there are very serious internal problems. The reforms that they (the regime) have offered clearly should have been carried out long ago,” said Putin in comments published on the government website Friday.
