LONDON // The Kremlin on Wednesday denied a claim by a senior negotiator that Russia had offered in 2012 to make Syria’s president step down in an “elegant way”, saying it never called for regime change.
It came as Israel on Wednesday joined an international chorus of concern over Russia’s military involvement on the ground in Syria, announcing that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit president Vladimir Putin in Moscow next week to discuss the issue.
Denying media reports that Moscow discussed the subject of Bashar Al Assad’s removal, Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state news agency Tass, “I can only once more repeat that Russia is not involved in changing regimes. Suggesting that someone step aside – elegantly or not – is something Russia has never done.”
Former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari told British newspaper The Guardian that Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, met with him privately in 2012 and suggested finding “an elegant way for Assad to step aside”.
“He said three things: One – we should not give arms to the opposition. Two – we should get a dialogue going between the opposition and Assad straight away. Three – we should find an elegant way for Assad to step aside,” Mr Ahtisaari said.
Mr Peskov dismissed the claim, saying that “it’s very easy to trace chronologically that from the start of the Syrian crisis, Russia repeated at many different levels that only the Syrian people can determine its future, only through democratic elections”.
Russia has always publicly supported Mr Al Assad’s regime, and had said that his removal could not be a prerequisite for any deal to end the conflict, which has left more than 240,000 people dead and millions displaced.
Mr Netanyahu will visit Russia next week for talks with Mr Putin to discuss “the threats to Israel emanating from the increased flow of advanced weaponry to the Syrian arena and from the transfer of lethal weaponry to Hizbollah and other terrorist groups”, an Israeli official said on Wednesday.
Moscow has come under increased international pressure to explain its moves in Syria, where the Kremlin has been supporting Mr Al Assad in the 4-and-a-half year war.
On Monday, two US officials said Russia had positioned about a half dozen tanks at an airfield at the centre of a military buildup in Syria and that the intentions of Moscow’s latest deployment of heavy equipment were unclear.
Western officials and a Russian source said last week that Russia was sending an advanced anti-aircraft missile system to Syria in support of Mr Assad.
* Agence France-Presse and Reuters
http://ift.tt/1OYlVzu
3Novices Europe
No comments:
Post a Comment