MOSCOW, June 11 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that foreign intervention in the Syrian civil war is unacceptable because it would result in a new source of terror in the region.
He warned that the situation in Syria could follow a Libya scenario, leading to a fight for resources and interethnic conflicts.
“We are very concerned that if we act the same way in Syria the situation there will be the same,” he said during a meeting with staff members filmed by Russia Today.
“Is the space of uncertainty and terrorism that has emerged between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where nobody controls anything and where there are only terrorist bases, not enough for us?”
The entire region “has sunk into a state of uncertainty and conflicts,” Putin said, citing the situation in Egypt, Iraq, Yemen and Tunisia and cautioning against interference in internal disagreements between various Islamic trends.
“Nothing can be done without factoring in the history, traditions and religious specifics of the region,” he said.
Earlier this month Moscow slammed Western support for Syria’s armed opposition following the European Union’s decision to end the embargo on arms supplies to Syria.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced in early May, after a Moscow meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry, that the two countries had decided to hold an international conference aimed at facilitating a solution to the Syrian crisis through political dialogue.
More than 80,000 people have died since fighting broke out between Syrian government forces and rebels in March 2011.
