ASSAD: WEST FOLLOWS SAME SCENARIO IN SYRIA, UKRAINE TO WEAKEN RUSSIA

(c) AFP 2015/ HO/SANA
POLITICS
18:00 26.03.2015(updated 18:09 26.03.2015) Get short URL
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Western countries, interfering in Syria’s internal affairs, are
following the same scenario as in Ukraine to weaken Russia, Syrian
President Bashar Assad said Thursday.

DAMASCUS (Sputnik) — Assad said his goal as Syria’s president is to
resist foreign interference in the country.

“There is a connection between the Syrian crisis and what is happening
in Ukraine. Firstly, because both countries are important for Russia.

Secondly, because there is a goal in both cases to weaken Russia and
create puppet states,” Assad told Russian reporters.

(c) SPUTNIK/ ANDREY STENIN Toppling Syrian Gov’t May Cause Catastrophic
Consequences – Turkish Envoy “It is clear that the duty of any state
is to protect the interests of the people and the country. And,
of course, the role of the government is to implement these interests.”

The Syrian authorities will not oppose the revival and expansion of
a Russian naval facility in the port of Tartus if Moscow decides to
do it, President Bashar Assad said on Thursday.

“We welcome the expansion of Russian presence in eastern Mediterranean,
especially near our shores and in our ports,” Assad said in an
interview with Russian journalists.

The naval facility in Tartus, established in Soviet times, has been
used for the maintenance and resupply of Russian warships in the
Mediterranean.

With the escalation of the Syrian crisis, Russia withdrew all military
personnel from the Tartus base and replaced them with civilian
workers. However, after the deployment of a large naval task force
in the Mediterranean in 2013, Moscow has been considering the revival
of the facility.

He added that a decision on the expansion of the Tartus facility must
be taken by the Russian authorities.

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