That's exactly what EU needs to do if they really want to fight ISIS and to stop a huge wave of refugees from ME. (And if it had been done long time ago Europe did not have such an issue with immigrants.) As for me, I have a lot of respect for Assad, I think he's a hero. Washington hawks badly wanted him to follow Saddam and Qaddafi, even created ISIS to fight him, however he still is doing his best to protect the country and the people he feels responsible for.
On September 4 Putin answered questions and presented his point of view about Syria and ISIS:
Question: Mr President, I would like to clarify something with regard to the Islamic State, because Russia has been speaking of the need to create a political coalition, and the United States has been urging the same thing. There is no agreement on Syria, for example, and so forth. How do you see the creation of such a coalition?
Vladimir Putin: We are taking specific steps, and doing this publicly. If you want to know the details, I can explain once again. It is true that we want to create an international coalition to combat terrorism and extremism. With this aim in view, we are holding consultations with our American partners, I personally discussed this over the telephone with the President of the United Stated, Mr Obama, and I also discussed this with the President of Turkey, the leaders of Saudi Arabia, with the King of Jordan, the President of Egypt and other partners. Our military agencies are in close contact, only recently the heads of the general staffs of the countries neighboring on these conflicts met in Moscow.
We continue our political efforts to create a certain coalition. If today it is impossible to organize joint work directly ‘on the battlefield’, so to speak, involving all the countries interested in combating terrorism, we should at least achieve certain coordination between them. We are trying and making certain efforts in this direction. Our first steps show that overall this seems possible.
We know that there are different positions on the developments in Syria. Incidentally, people are not fleeing from the Bashar Assad regime – they are fleeing from the Islamic State, which has occupied vast territories in Syria and Iraq and is committing atrocities there. That is what people are running away from. However, we understand that political change is also required. We are also working with our partners in Syria.
It is true that we want to create an international coalition to combat terrorism and extremism.
There is an overall understanding that such joint efforts to combat terrorism should go side by side with certain political processes inside Syria. The Syrian President agrees with this too, including, say, holding early parliamentary elections and establishing ties with the so-called ‘healthy opposition’ and involving them in running the country. This is primarily a matter of Syria’s internal development. We are not imposing anything, but we are ready to assist in an internal Syrian dialogue.
* * *
First, we must efficiently combat terrorism and extremism together.
Second, we need to restore the economy of those countries and their social sphere. Only this way, by showing respect for the history, traditions and religion of these peoples and countries, we can restore their statehood and provide large-scale economic and political support.
If we join our efforts in all these areas, we will have positive results. If we act separately and keep arguing among ourselves over some quasi-democratic principles and procedures on certain territories, this will get us into a greater deadlock. However, I pin my hopes on a positive development and on joining efforts with all our partners.
Vladimir Putin answered Russian journalists’ questions
