The mess persists. The Russian presidency refused this Monday, December 9, to confirm the presence of Bashar al-Assad in Russia, after Russian press agencies, citing a source in the Kremlin, indicated that the Syrian leader had found refuge there with his family.
“I have nothing to tell you about the comings and goings of President Assad,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told the press, specifying that “there is no meeting (planned between Putin and Assad) on the Russian president’s official agenda.
“The whole world was surprised by what happened. We are no exception,” he added.
“Political solution”
According to this same source collected by Russian media, Russia is already in contact with the Syrian rebels and that their leaders have “guaranteed the security of Russian military bases and diplomatic institutions on the territory of Syria.”
He indicated that Moscow wants “the continuation of political dialogue in the interests of the Syrian people and the development of bilateral relations between Russia and Syria.”
“Russia has always been in favor of a political solution to the Syrian crisis. We start from the need to resume negotiations under the auspices of the UN,” said this Kremlin source.
Russia’s deputy representative to the UN, Dmitri Polianski, announced that Moscow has requested an emergency closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in Syria for Monday afternoon.
Source: BFM TV
