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Conflict in Syria

Putin stresses refugee crisis can only be solved through conflict resolution

Putin chose not to answer a question about his stance on the EU countries’ failure to keep their promise about accepting Syrian refugees in greater quantities

© Mikhail Klimentyev/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

ANKARA, April 4. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin is confident that the refugee problem can only be tackled by resolving conflicts that force people to flee their homes. "We only need to resolve these conflicts so that there won’t be more refugees," Putin said during a press conference covering the results of the Syria summit between Russia, Iran and Turkey.

Putin chose not to answer a question about his stance on the EU countries’ failure to keep their promise about accepting Syrian refugees in greater quantities. "This is a question meant for them. For our part, we try to keep our promises," Putin stressed. "And if we fail to keep one, we explain why we encountered problems and when we can carry out what was promised."

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Syria can’t handle refugee issue alone, global community needs to chip in — Putin

The Russian leader also noted the great amount of pressure that Turkey faces due to an influx of Syrian refugees. Putin mentioned that this situation is not unique and that Russia in particular faces pressure because of the influx of Ukrainian refugees.

Putin added that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s humanitarian offers in Syria had been discussed during the summit. According to Putin, they spoke about combining their efforts in order to help Syrian civilians in de-escalation zones and across the country by using Russian, Turkish and Iranian medical services, as well as military medics.

"We will have to consider the practical side of this issue," President Putin stressed. "I think that this offer is sound and timely. We will work on it and certainly keep up our efforts in this direction."

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Vladimir Putin Syrian conflict

Military operation in Ukraine

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