A leading Syrian opposition figure has said “it is about time” Russia changed its stance towards President Bashar al-Assad’s “despotic regime.”
Speaking ahead of a landmark visit to Moscow, Burhan Ghalioun, leader of the dissident Syrian National Council (SNC), said: “It is about time the Russian leadership changed its stance towards a regime which is still ignoring calls to launch reforms and start dialogue with the opposition on a peaceful transition to democracy.”
Ghalioun, a Paris-based academic, will lead an SNC delegation which will meet Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
In an exclusive interview with the Russian state Arabic-language news outlet Anba Moscow, Ghalioun painted a bleak picture of everyday violence and repression in Syria today.
“Not a day passes without a dozen civilians being killed. This is done in order to frighten people out of going to rallies to demand their rights.”
Human rights groups say more than 3,500 people have died since protests against Assad began in March. Syria’s leadership has dismissed the violence as the work of terrorist groups.
Meanwhile, King Abdullah of Jordan became the first Arab leader to openly demand that Syrian President Bashar Assad step down on Monday.
Ghalioun said the SNC had been waiting for an invitation to come to Moscow since its formation was announced in Turkey on October 3.
“Finally, we are coming to try to achieve in talks with a country that has been historically close to the Syrian people something that we couldn’t achieve in the past,” he said. “Of course, we are to be held partly responsible for the fact that Russia was not aware of the Syrian people’s legitimate rights and demands. But part of that responsibility lies also with our Russian friends, who for a long time have believed the lies of the dictatorial Syrian regime.”
Ghalioun praised the Arab League’s suspension of Syria over its continuing crackdown on protesters, saying the regional body was the “best structure under which talks on a democratic transition of power could be held.”
However, he dismissed government calls for an urgent league summit as “just another attempt by the Syrian authorities to buy time and shirk their obligations.”
The Arab states are due to hold another meeting on Wednesday to discuss Syria.
Ghalioun stressed the SNC’s commitment to peaceful means and said he hoped the Russian visit would “serve as a prologue to a change in the historic relations between Russian and Syrian peoples on a basis that would help boost our mutual strength and enhance our cooperation.”
