Putin Stance on Keeping Existing Syrian Gov't Only Option to Stop War

STRASBOURG (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova — Russian President Vladimir Putin's opposition to the removal of Syrian President Bashar Assad from power, is the only option that can resolve the country's four-year civil war, a French National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee member told Sputnik Monday.

In an interview with CBS and PBS TV channels, Putin said that the popular opinion claiming Assad's resignation will contribute to the fight against the Islamic State (ISIL) extremist group is nothing but "anti-Syrian propaganda."

"We have two examples — Iraq and Libya — which show us that when the state is destroyed, it is chaos and after that anarchy, and after that there is extremism, terrorism. So I think, president Putin shows that we need to keep the state with all the instruments of a state in Syria, I agree," Thierry Mariani said.

The position of Western countries, including Germany, France and the United States, is slowly coming around to support Putin's stance on the issue, he added.

Syria has been in a state of civil war since 2011. The country's government is fighting a number of opposition forces, as well as radical Islamist militant organizations, including the Nusra Front and IS.

A number of Western countries have long been vocally supportive of the Syrian opposition, insisting on the removal of Assad from power. Russia, in turn, argues that Assad is the legitimate president of Syria, and that Syrian people must be able to choose their government and leaders without outside intervention.