Assad never asked Russia for political asylum ----Lavrov
Syrian President Bashar Assad has not asked Russia for
political asylum, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference
in Moscow on Tuesday.
"Nobody has asked us for political asylum. No offers of
the sort have been made," Lavrov said.
He also dismissed media rumors the former chief of the
General Staff’s intelligence directorate GRU, Igor Sergun, had allegedly asked
Assad to step down, reports Tass.
"I’ve read the speculations published with reference to
late Igor Sergun claiming that he had allegedly made a trip to Damascus to ask
Assad to resign," Lavrov said.
"This is not true. Such a conversation with Assad was
not necessary." Lavrov recalled Assad’s visit to Moscow and his meeting
with President Vladimir Putin.
"What they agreed on is well-known," Lavrov said.
"We confirmed that in public and our president stated that Assad had
agreed to enter into negotiations with the opposition including armed
opposition. He agreed to form a wider anti-terrorist front on the ground for
struggle against the Islamic State (outlawed in Russia as a terrorist
organization) Jabhat al-Nusra and their likes."
"Also in Moscow we agreed that President Assad in the
course of the political process will send a delegation and will be ready to
consider political reforms that would eventually be incorporated in decisions
by the Vienna Group and the UN Security Council’s Resolution 2254," he
said.
Kremlin on January 22 dismissed media reports Moscow had
allegedly asked Assad to resign. "No, this is not so," presidential
spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The Financial Times earlier quoted anonymous sources in
Western secret services as saying that Igor Sergun, the head of the General
Staff’s intelligence directorate GRU had allegedly made a trip to Damascus to
address Assad on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s behalf with a request to
leave the post of Syria’s president.
The Financial Times claimed Assad had declined.
GRU chief Igor Sergun, 58, died a sudden death on January 3.
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