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Russian envoy to Iran refutes allegations Moscow is dissatisfied with Syria’s Assad

Only Syrian people are the decision-makers of their country, noted Levan Dzhagaryan

TEHERAN, May 17. /TASS/. Russian Ambassador to Iran Levan Dzhagaryan has refuted allegations that the Russian side is dissatisfied with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"You know, there are some speculations as if Russia isn’t happy with President Assad. There are some rumors. Maybe, some people who have no political position have declared such views. But such views are their personal views which don’t reflect any official positions as a Russian government," he said in an interview with Mehr News Agency.

"I would like to stress that we will continue our support for the political process in Syria. We will support the legitimate government of Syria," he emphasized. "The future of the country belongs to the Syrian people. Only Syrian people are the decision-makers of their country."

"Also, I would like to highly appreciate the joint efforts by Astana format member countries, Russia, Turkey, and Iran. We are the main players on the ground. Thanks to our trilateral efforts military operation on Syria’s ground stopped and paved the away for forces to start negotiations. Hopefully, after this pandemic is over, the political process will continue," he added.

A number of mass media outlets reported earlier citing Syria’s opposition that Syrian President Bashar Assad could be removed from power. This issue is allegedly discussed by Russia, Turkey and Iran. Neither of the three have officially confirmed such reports.

Moscow, Teheran and Ankara are the guarantors of the Astana process for the normalization of the situation in Syria. The latest round of talks in this format was held in Kazakhstan’s Nur-Sultan (formerly known as Astana) on December 10-11, 2019. The next meeting was originally scheduled for March but was postponed amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

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Foreign policy Syria Iran Turkey Bashar Assad Syrian conflict

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