Syria’s main exiled opposition group on Wednesday failed to convince Russia to drop its support for President Bashar al-Assad as Moscow defiantly clung to its rejection of outside intervention. Syrian National Council (SNC) chief Abdel Basset Sayda told Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in rare talks at the Russian foreign ministry that Moscow needed to understand his country was in the throes of a revolution. But the SNC admitted after the talks that Russia’s refusal to join calls for Assad to quit had not changed and lamented that Moscow was still convinced the Syrian leader had the support of the majority of his people. “We confirm, in the name of the Syrian opposition, that there cannot be talk of a solution until Assad quits power,” Sayda told reporters after the meeting. “Russia has a different position on this issue,” he added. Burhan Ghalioun, SNC executive committee member and its former chief, who held similar talks in Moscow last year, added that there was no sign of any change in the Russian position. “We have not seen a development in the Russian position. I was here one year ago and the position has not changed,” he told reporters. Moscow has refused to call on Assad to relinquish power, saying that Syria’s political future cannot be imposed from the outside and must be decided via a dialogue involving all parties.
