All news

Any external interference in Syrian situation to be catastrophic - Rogozin

“Syria must be left alone, and the sides to the conflict should be assisted to switch from confrontation to the political dialog”

MOSCOW, January 13 (Itar-Tass) —— Any external interference in the Syrian situation will be catastrophic, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, former Permanent Representative to NATO Dmitry Rogozin told his farewell press conference at the NATO headquarters on Friday.

“There is no doubt that the Syrian situation is the exclusive area of the Foreign Ministry but, being a citizen and a high-ranking official of Russia, I think that any external interference in the difficult situation in Syria will lead to an inevitable catastrophe,” he said. “Syria must be left alone, and the sides to the conflict should be assisted to switch from confrontation to the political dialog. There is no other way. There should be no interference in Syria because that is dangerous.”

“Anywhere the West had tried to influence democratization in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East, the Islamists came to power as a result. If the West thinks it will feel comfortable with southern neighbors whose political system is based on the Sharia, that is certainly the West’s business but I think this policy is short-sighted,” Rogozin said.