SOCHI, Russia | Mon Jul 23, 2012

Source: Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Syria’s crisis must be resolved through negotiations not force, and warned that if President Bashar al-Assad’s government was toppled a civil war could continue.

After talks with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, Putin said last week’s vote to extend an observer mission showed that compromise could be found at the United Nations but gave no sign Russia would drop its opposition to sanctions or intervention.

“We think that the future of a country should not be decided on the basis of military victory or defeat of one of the sides, but through a negotiation process, on the basis of compromise and agreements reached,” Putin said.

“The current Syrian leadership and the armed opposition must find in themselves the strength to organize a negotiation process,” Putin told a joint news conference after the meeting in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.

“In the course of the talks (they need to) decide how their country will live in the future.”

But he stood firm on Russia’s insistence that Assad’s exit from power could not be a precondition for such a process and warned that the overthrow of the government would only bring more bloodshed.

“We fear that if the current leadership is removed from power unconstitutionally, the opposition and the current leadership may simply trade places,” Putin said, adding that in that case “nobody knows how long civil war would continue”.

Putin suggested that “structural changes” in government should come only after fighting stops and talks are held to determine how the country should be run in the future. “Doing it the other way around would be chaos,” he said.

Commenting on the statement Ribal Al-Assad, Director of the ODFS, said:

“I welcome President Putin’s statement. Diplomacy based on Kofi Annan’s peace plan must be given a chance as it is the best way forward. The alternative is a prolonged civil war. Russia is a key player in the Syrian crisis and all opposition groups should engage with her.

“Therefore I call on all the Syrian opposition to unite onto one platform and speak with one voice. This can help start a process, which can lead to a national dialogue, a national unity government and a peaceful, inclusive and democratic transition. The Russian Government is well placed to play a role in facilitating this process and we should work with it to achieve this goal. I call on both sides in the Syrian conflict to end the violence.”