Putin said his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad had told him he was ready to talk to armed opposition groups if they are genuinely committed to dialogue and to combating Islamic State.
Speaking a day after Assad made a surprise visit to Moscow for talks with Putin — underlining Moscow’s new role as a central player in Syria’s conflict — Putin said the two men had talked about the need for a political solution.
Some Western governments have portrayed Russia as an obstacle to a political deal, especially since it started air strikes on Islamist groups in Syria opposed to Assad, including some backed by the United States and its allies.
But Putin said he believed that the military operation in Syria could create the right conditions for progress in talks on the future of the country.
“I will pull open the curtain a little on my talks with President Assad,” Putin said at a forum in the Russian resort of Sochi on Thursday evening.
“I asked him: ‘What view would you take if we found, now in Syria, an armed opposition which nonetheless was ready to oppose and really fight against terrorists, against Islamic State? What would be your view if we were to support their efforts in fighting Islamic State in the same way we are supporting the Syrian army’,” Putin said.
“He answered: ‘I would view that positively’,” Putin said of Assad.
The Russian president went on: “We are now thinking about this and are trying, if it works out, to reach these agreements.”
Putin also said that, at the root of the Syrian conflict was not just Islamist militancy but also internal tensions — a recognition that at least some of the people who rebelled against Assad’s rule had a legitimate grievance.
But as Russia and Iran align with Syria, the US and Saudi are taking the other side.
The United States and Saudi Arabia agreed to increase support to Syria’s moderate opposition while seeking a political resolution of the four-year conflict, the U.S. State Department said after Secretary of State John Kerry met King Salman on Saturday.
Kerry was in Riyadh for meetings with the Saudi monarch, crown prince, deputy crown prince and foreign minister – the last stop in a trip that also included Vienna, where he met counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Russia.
“They pledged to continue and intensify support to the moderate Syrian opposition while the political track is being pursued,” the State Department statement said after Kerry’s meetings in Saudi Arabia. It did not spell out what kind of support would be offered.
Rebels have appealed for more military support from foreign backers, including Saudi Arabia, to confront major Syrian army offensives. Those offensives are backed by Lebanese Hezbollah and Iranian fighters and Russian air strikes.
The United States and Saudi Arabia, together with other states opposed to Assad, already provides some military support to Syrian rebels. That includes training by the Central Intelligence Agency and anti-tank missiles.
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