Russia Says Assad Not Essential
As global powers attempt to set the stage for negotiations in Syria, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the Kremlin does not consider Bashar al-Assad a vital part of the political pathway forward.
When asked whether Moscow believed it necessary to keep Assad in power, Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, told a Russian radio station, “Absolutely not, we’ve never said that,” the Associated Press reports.
Russia’s strong-handed military intervention in Syria over a month ago is generally believed to have bolstered Assad’s rule, and Moscow has hitherto refused to discuss Western suggestions aimed at ousting the standing Syrian leader.
According to Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, Moscow is planning to host a round of initial talks between Syrian officials and opposition leaders next week.
While the Syrian government has reportedly agreed to participate, it is unclear which opposition leaders will be present.
Russia and U.S. Coordinate Air Space in Syria
In an attempt to avoid close encounters and possible collisions, U.S. and Russian air forces held a joint training exercise in Syria on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
“There was a joint exercise with air crews and ground troops from the Russian and U.S. air forces,” General Andrei Kartapolov, a senior Russian military official, said in a statement.
Kartapolov said that Russian and coalition air force crews spent the day practicing close encounters at a minimum distance of three aeronautical miles, using both English and Russian to communicate.
Russia: Syrian ‘Opposition’ Helped Guide Warplanes to Targets
Russian warplanes struck 24 targets in Syria on Tuesday thanks to spotting assistance provided by Syrian opposition groups.
For the first time since Russia began its aerial campaign more than a month ago, “opposition representatives” helped to supply the Russian air force with coordinates, the AFP reports.
“The coordinates of all of these targets were given to us by opposition representatives,” said Russian general Andrei Kartapolov, although he declined to specify the particular groups.
Russia has reportedly established “working coordination groups” with Syrian rebels in an attempt to support their fight against the self-proclaimed Islamic State group (ISIS).
“Such close cooperation will allow us to unite the efforts of the government troops with other patriotic forces in Syria that used to be in the opposition and act as a united front against the common enemy – international terrorism,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
With the help of opposition forces on Tuesday, Russian jets reportedly hit targets close to Palmyra, Deir Ezzor, Ithriya and eastern Aleppo.
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Top image: Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, left, U.N. special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura and U.S. secretary of state John Kerry, right, speak during a press conference after a meeting in Vienna, Austria, on Friday Oct. 30, 2015. The United States, Russia, Iran and more than a dozen other nations agreed on Friday to launch a new peace effort involving Syria’s government and opposition groups, but carefully avoided any determination on when President Bashar al-Assad might leave power – perhaps the most intractable dispute of the conflict. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)