Putin says al-Assad is ready for early Syrian elections
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was ready to hold early parliamentary elections and to share power with a “healthy” opposition, in a move that could facilitate a broader international coalition against Islamic State (IS).
Putin also commented that Russia would participate in that coalition and that he had already discussed the issue with US President Barack Obama, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.
joint efforts in the fight against terrorism should go hand by hand with the political process in Syria
“There is a general understanding that joint efforts in the fight against terrorism should go hand by hand with the political process in Syria”, Putin told reporters in Vladivostok on Friday.
Read more: UN warns of humanitarian crisis in Syria
Putin also added that it was “too early” to talk about Russian military action in Syria, though he admitted that they were “considering various options.”
Nevertheless, he specified that Russia was already helping al-Assad with weapons and military training.
The US White House and State Department said on Thursday that it was monitoring reports that Russia was carrying out military operations in Syria on behalf of al-Asad, warning that such an intervention posed a serious risk to the country's situation.
Any military support to the Assad regime is both destabilizing and counterproductive
"Any military support to the Assad regime for any purpose, whether it's in the form of military personnel, aircraft supplies, weapons, or funding, is both destabilizing and counterproductive," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Thursday.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said they had seen various reports that Russia could be deploying military personnel. “We're unclear what these might be used for," he added.
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