Putin Warns of Any Attempt to Foreign Military Intervention in Syria

Local Editor

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Tuesday against any attempt at foreign military intervention in Syria, stressing that the move would only make the situation worse.

"Any attempts to influence the situation by force through direct military action is doomed to fail and would unavoidably bring about large humanitarian casualties," he said.
Speaking at a joint news conference after a summit with European Union leaders in Yekaterinburg, Putin said on Tuesday that any future foreign military intervention in Syria is doomed to fail.

"We once again underscored that any attempts to influence the situation through force and direct military intervention are doomed to failure," Putin said.

Putin reiterated that Russia was "dissatisfied" with the EU decision to relax the arms embargo on Syria and said the question of participation by the opposition in a proposed conference in Geneva should be resolved "as soon as possible."
"As is known, the Syrian leadership already officially declared its agreement to take part in the work," Putin said.

The Russian president also defended his country's decision to deliver advanced S-300 air defense missile systems to the Syrian government, saying it complies with the international law and will help to tilt the balance of power in the region.
"It's perhaps the best such weapon in the world. It's indeed a serious weapon. We don't want to throw the region off balance," Putin added.
He, however, said that Russia has not yet fulfilled the contract, which was signed a few years ago.

Russia said last week that it planned to proceed with deliveries of the S-300 system, saying the missiles would act as a deterrent to "hotheads" determined to intervene in the Syrian conflict.

Moreover, Putin expressed his hope that no "man-eaters" would be among the representatives of the "Syrian opposition" to the conference on Syria due to be held in Geneva, referring to footages aired by some TV channels showing members of the "armed opposition" cutting out and eating internal organs of people they had killed.

He added that the participation of "such types of people" in the international conference on Syria "would make it difficult to ensure the security of the Russian participants in the conference."

President Putin said that absence of good will and a unified program on the part of the "armed opposition" in Syria, in addition to the inability to determine their representatives to the conference, are all issues that hinder the holding of the conference on Syria.