US Secretary of State John Kerry said that if the Syrian peace plan fails, more foreign troops could enter the conflict. Countries such as Saudi
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US Secretary of State John Kerry said that if the Syrian peace plan fails, more foreign troops could enter the conflict.
Countries such as Saudi Arabia say they are willing to increase their involvement in Syria.
The Global Conversation spoke to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
You can watch the full interview with Medvedev on Euronews TV and online from 18h CET today, Sunday, February 14.
Euronews: “What precise military actions […] is Russia prepared to take to help in this de-escalation of the conflict in Syria?”
Prime Minister Medvedev: “If he [Kerry] wants to get a long war, then they can start ground operations and suchlike. But there’s no need to scare anybody — we need to negotiate, within the framework agreed with minister Lavrov — and not saying that if something going wrong, we will launch a ground operation with other Arab countries. I have answered this question and I will say it again: nobody wants a new war; a ground operation is a full-scale, long war; this has to be taken into consideration.”
Euronews: Clearly, one of the key issue is the future of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Will Russia continue to support him at this crucial moment in time?
Prime Minister Medvedev: “Russia doesn’t support President Assad personally, Russia supports friendly relations with the Syrian state, which emerged long before Bashar Assad’s presidency.
“We come from the point that right now there’s no legitimate power in Syria other than Bashar Assad. You can like that or not, but he’s the president in power. If we pull him out from this structure, there will be chaos – like we’ve seen more than once in many Middle Eastern countries.”
You can watch the full conversation on euronews today (February 18)at 18.00 CET.