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Russia's support for Syrian government logical – expert

Director of the Institute of the Middle East Evgeny Satanovsky commented on John Kerry’s statement

MOSCOW, February 17. /ITAR-TASS/. The fact that the US secretary of state speaks without thinking is well-known, it is a problem of the United States, Director of the Institute of the Middle East Evgeny Satanovsky said on Monday, commenting on John Kerry’s statement in Jakarta that Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad is still trying to win Syria's civil war militarily with support from Russia and Iran.

“I am not aware of how to interpret commentaries of the kind or why he says so, and besides he implies there /in Syria/ is no civil war,” the expert said. “The only thing to do here is to shrug shoulders.”

“In Syria a civil war is going on, a very serious one, with millions of refugees, with hundreds of thousands killed,” Satanovsky said. “The United States has been supporting groups like al-Qaeda. Russia has been supporting Syria’s government. This is only logical.”

"It is very clear that Bashar al-Assad is continuing to try to win this on the battlefield rather than go to the negotiating table with good faith," Kerry told reporters in Jakarta on Monday. "The regime is stonewalled. They did nothing except continue to drop barrel bombs on their own people and continue to destroy their own country. And I regret to say they are doing so with increased support from Iran, from Hezbollah and from Russia.