UNITED NATIONS, September 29. /TASS/. Determining the fate of Syria should be in the hands of the Syrians; and neither Obama nor Hollande are Syrian citizens, Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalists Tuesday.
"I have a great respect for my colleagues - for the American and for the French. But they are, as far as I know, are not citizens of the Syrian Arab Republic, therefore they hardly should be involved in determining the fate of authority in another state. After all it's the business of the Syrians," the President said.
He noted that the conflict in Syria is "deep and unfortunately bloody." "This is why I said that we are going to insist on political transformation together with supporting the authorities in the fight against terrorism," Putin said.
The President once again stressed the need for coordination in solving the Syrian conflict. He recalled that, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, and international law, flying over the territory of another state, "all the more so, striking," can only be conducted in the framework of the article 7 of the Charter of the United Nations or according to the decision of the United Nations Security Council, or by invitation of that country.
"Therefore, such actions, although taken against terrorist groups, after all, cannot be called legitimate," Putin said.
Information center in Baghdad opened for all parties concerned with antiterrorist struggle
Information Center that Russia, Iran, Syria, and Iraq have opened in Baghdad serves the interests of all the parties interested in struggle with terrorism, Russian President Vladimir Putin said here on Monday as he spoke to reporters after talks with U.S. President Barack Obama.
"We’ve already said this information center, which has been opened in Baghdad, is open for representatives of all the countries interested in struggle with terrorism," Putin said answering a question by TASS.
A source in the military diplomatic community told TASS earlier Russia, Syria, Iran, and Iraq had established an information center in Baghdad for coordinating struggle with the Islamic State.
"Successful operations of the center in the future will create conditions for transforming it into a coordination committee that will help plan operations and coordinate the actions of armed units of the four countries struggling with the Islamic State," the source said.
Representatives of General Staffs of the Russian, Syrian, Iranian, and Iraqi Armed Forces will be delegated to the center in Baghdad. "Gathering, processing, summarizing, and analysis of current data on the situation in the Middle East in the context of struggle with the Islamic State, as well as the distribution of data to where required a prompt transmission of information to the General Staffs of the four countries will be the main functions of this organization," the source said.
He indicated that the Army officers from Russia, Iran, Iraq, and Syria would chair the center on the basis of basis of rotation over every three months.
Russian govt to consider more ways of helping Syrian troops fight terrorism
Authorities in Moscow are considering more ways to help Syrian troops fight with terrorism, President Vladimir Putin said here on Monday as he spoke to reporters after talks with U.S. President Barack Obama.
"As for our, Russia's participation in these efforts struggle with terrorism in Syria we're thinking about what else we could possibly do to support those who're putting resistance to and struggling with terrorist including the Islamic State out in the field, as it were," Putin said.
He believes the forces fighting with terrorism in Syria are not populous.
"On the Syrian territory, these are the Syrian Army, in the first place, and Kurd self-defence units," he said. "We're thinking about what we could possibly give to the Syrian Army as supplementary assistance in fighting with terrorism and how we could do it.".