Vladimir Putin has insisted that Bashar al-Assad is the “legally-elected” president of Syria and no one is entitled to ask him to resign. The Russian president made his comment in response to statements by Barack Obama, who said that the only way to achieve stability in Syria is through the formation of a new government without Assad, Anadolu has reported.
According to Putin’s adviser Dmitry Peskov, this conversation took place during a phone call between the two leaders on 26 June. He stressed that the Russian position on Assad is known to everyone and the Russian president said nothing new to his US counterpart.
In a related context, Syria’s ambassador in Moscow, Riad Haddad, has revealed that Russia will host the third consultative meeting between Syrian parties involved in the conflict. He said that the date of the meeting will be linked to the schedule of the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura. No further details were reported.