Monday, May 20th 05:24 AM IST

Russia says is not against Assad’s departure

by Jun 9, 2012

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will not oppose the departure of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad if such a move is a result of a dialogue between Syrians themselves and is not enforced through external pressure, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday.

“If the Syrians agree (about Assad’s departure) between each other, we will only be happy to support such a solution,” Lavrov told reporters. “But we believe it is unacceptable to impose the conditions for such a dialogue from outside.”

(Reporting by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)

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