DAMASCUS - Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad said in an interview released Thursday that his Russian ally
has "never" discussed a political transition with him, despite
international support for such a process.
Speaking to
NBC News in Damascus, the embattled leader insisted his Russian
counterpart Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had never
raised the issue of his departure or a political transition with him.
"Only
the Syrian people define who's going to be the president, when to come,
and when to go. They never said a single word regarding this," he said.
His
comments came as US Secretary of State John Kerry headed back to Moscow
for new meetings with Putin to discuss the situation in Syria, where a
devastating five-year civil war has killed more than 280,000 people.
Russia
and the United States are nominally co-chairs of international efforts
to bring Assad's regime to the negotiating table with armed opposition
groups.
Hopes for the existing peace process rest on
the UN-backed blueprint sketched out by the 22-nation, US and
Russian-led International Syria Support Group.
Under
this road map, signed by both Syria's ally Iran and Assad's pro-rebel
foe Saudi Arabia, a nationwide ceasefire will precede Geneva-based talks
on "political transition."
But there has been little progress towards a resumption of political talks that was scheduled for August 1.
A
close ally of the government in Damascus, Russia has intervened
directly in the conflict since October 2015, when it began air strikes
in support of regime forces. NATION
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