ROME, August 6 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated on Tuesday that Moscow does not support certain groups in the Syrian conflict but wants to prevent the Arab nation from turning into another “hotbed of terrorism.”
“We have no special interests in supporting some or other personalities in Syria or in any other country,” Lavrov said. “We [Russia] are interested in this key state in the Arab world not to become a hotbed of terrorism.”
According to the top Russian diplomat, Moscow has repeatedly said that Syrian President Bashar Assad “was not a close friend and was not a friend at all.”
“He [Assad] is our partner, who had friendship with capitals in Western Europe, but then their relations changed,” Lavrov said after a meeting in the “two-plus-two” format in Rome, which involved foreign and defense ministers from Russia and Italy.
In late July, at a meeting of the United Nations’ Security Council, Syrian opposition leaders urged Russia to stop its support of Assad in an effort to resolve the ongoing conflict in Syria, which according to UN estimates has claimed some 100,000 lives.
