ISTANBUL, December 3 (Itar-Tass) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Syria has no nuclear weapons.
At a press conference after talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, December 3, Putin said he had some doubts about the correctness of the translation of a Turkish journalist’s question.
“Are you kidding? Does Syria have nuclear weapons? This is probably an incorrect translation. The translation was: are there guarantees that Syria will not use nuclear weapons?” Putin said with surprise.
“Syria is not a nuclear power and is not even close to possible production of weapons of mass destruction,” the president said.
“We are not guarantors for the situation as a whole, but I am confident that Syria has more urgent things to deal with than attack its neighbours. They cannot sort things out themselves,” the president said.
“What is happening on the Syrian-Turkish border, involving attacks on Turkish territory, is a pure incident,” he said.
“You and we understand, and one does not have to be a specialist or even use secret services’ information to understand that Syria has more urgent things to deal with than attack its neighbours,” Putin said.