19.09 Putin Slams West Over Vague Plans for Syria Without Assad
VALDAI, September 19 (RIA Novosti) Russian President Vladimir Putin sharply criticized Western powers on Thursday for their inability to sufficiently plan for the future of Syria without its president, Bashar Assad, and what to do if terrorists come to power in the country.
Speaking at a meeting of the annual Valdai Discussion Club, which includes high-level Russian officials and foreign political scientists, Putin said he had discussed such Syria issues with his Western counterparts and received only a vague and uncertain response to his questions about their future plans for the war-torn country.
When I have discussions with my [Western] colleagues, I say: All right, in essence, you want to take their [the terrorists] side and help them to come to power, but then what? he said, noting that the United States and its allies had acknowledged the fact that al-Qaida-linked groups are part of the forces fighting Assads regime in Syria.
What are you going to do take a newspaper and slap them away from this power? But its impossible, we know its impossible, it just cant be done, Putin said, citing the failure of Western attempts to instill democracy in Iraq and Libya though military intervention.
According to a recent study by London-based defense consultancy IHS Janes, one-tenth of the 100,000 rebels battling the Syrian government are part of factions linked to al-Qaida. Radical Islamist factions are pushing for domination over secular rebel groups, the report said.
Putin reiterated that the use of force in Syria could be authorized only by the UN Security Council rather than as a result of a unilateral decision taken by a country that deems itself invulnerable.
