Putin blames Western nations who back Syrian rebels for the deaths of thousands of civilians killed by Assad
Russian president says he does not believe Assad purposely fights against his own population
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Vladimir Putin has partially blamed Western nations for the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians at the hands of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad during the country’s five-year-old civil war.
The Russian president said he does not believe Assad fights against his own population, adding that civilians were only killed during fighting instigated by rebel groups and their “foreign supporters”.
Estimates vary but approximately 250,000 people are believed to have died in the Syrian conflict so far. Many of those killed were innocent civilians who died at the hands of Assad’s forces.
“Assad does not fight against his own population but against those who take armed action against the government. If the civil population is then also harmed, it is not Assad's fault, but primarily the fault of the insurgents and their foreign supporters,” Putin told Bild magazine in an exclusive interview that was published in full today after extracts were released yesterday.
“Once again, this is not supposed to mean that everything is fine in Syria or that Assad is doing everything right,” he added.
Elsewhere Putin said Russia supports both the Assad regime and rebel forces within Syria and that he would be happy for his troops to work alongside rebel militias - but only in operations against Isis in territory the quasi state controls.
His comments counter claims that he in more concerned with defending Assad than defeating ISIS.
Putin, who has thrown Russia's support behind Assad with air strikes, also said that the crisis in relations between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran would complicate the search for peace in Syria.
“I believe it's necessary to move towards constitutional reform [in Syria]. It's a complicated process, of course. And after that, on the basis of the new constitution, [Syria should] hold early presidential and parliamentary elections”, he said.
Putin went to say that although he considered the idea premature, he would be happy to offer Assad asylum in his country should he decide to step down. He added, however, that if Syria’s transition to democracy goes to plan he Assad probably wouldn’t need to leave the country at all.
But if Assad did end up fleeing to Russia, Putin said he feels granting the Syrian leader asylum would be a much easier process than offering asylum to CIA surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden, who won the right to live in Russia for three more years in 2014 - extending a one-year asylum deal that ended his 39-day stay in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments