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In Syrian political settlement, ball is now in opposition’s court — Putin

The Russian leader said the Syrian opposition "should at least form their part of the constitutional committee, and keep moving forward in this direction"

MOSCOW, July 16. /TASS/. In the Syrian political settlement process, the ball is currently in the court of the opposition, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

"We are now taking active steps to [boost] the dialogue [on Syrian political settlement], we have convinced [Syrian] President [Bashar] Assad on the need to form his part of the constitutional committee, which should either amend the present constitution or draft a new one. President Assad did this, but the opposition did not," Putin said in an interview with Russia’s Channel One, aired on Monday.

"The ball is now in the court of the opposition, [and] of their supporters," the Russian leader added.

The Russian leader said the Syrian opposition "should at least form their part of the constitutional committee, and keep moving forward in this direction."

"All conditions for doing so are in place," he said.

The Russian president went on to say that "at present, Syria’s official government and the armed forces control the territory, which is home to 90% of the country’s population."

"However, in order to have them returned to their places of permanent residence, conditions must be created," Putin said.

According to the Russian leader, more than three million Syrian refugees are currently staying in Turkey, while Jordan and Lebanon have one million refugees each.

"This creates a potential for an inflow of refugees to Europe and the United States, and, maybe, to other countries as well. Probably, we should not just sit and wait for them to start moving in those directions, but, instead, create conditions for their return," he said.

According to the Russian leader, this task requires a massive effort to restore water and electricity supplies, rebuild homes and sewage systems.

"That’s why we agreed to make more decisive and joint steps in this direction," Putin said, commenting on his Monday meeting with Donald Trump.

Monday’s meeting in Helsinki was the first full-format Putin-Trump talks. Before that, they met twice - in July and November 2017 - on the sidelines of major international forums.