Ft: Putin asked Assad to resign

Russian President Vladimir Putin asked the Syrian dictator Bashar al -Asad to resign. It is reported by The Financial Times with reference to Western intelligence.

To transmit Assada Putin’s message, the former head of the GRU Igor Sergun went to Syria. In early January of this year, it was reported that the general died suddenly . The Syrian president responded with a sharp refusal. The sources of the publication claim that Assad made it clear to Sergun that Russia has no future in Syria if he does not remain as president.

The Kremlin denies such a proposal of Putin Assad. “No, this is not so,” Dmitry Peskov’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov assigned to comment on the message.

On December 17, during a large press conference, Putin stated that the question of the future fate of Assad was discussed at a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry. At the same time, the president noted that Russia will never agree that someone imposes on someone how and where to lead. “We were talking to the US Secretary of State Talked about this. We believe that only the Syrian people should determine who will manage them,” Putin explained.

The next day, Reuters, citing sources in Western diplomatic circles, said that Russia is ready for the resignation of Assad . "The Russians in private conversations say that they will agree to Assad’s departure at the end of the transition period. However, so far they are not ready to declare this publicly," one of the sources said.

According to diplomats, disagreements in the position of the West and Russia regarding the fate of Asad are reduced, but still exist. At the same time, the sources emphasized that Moscow takes a more radical position and, in its readiness to abandon Assad’s support, advanced further than Iran, insisting on maintaining power for the current Syrian president.