A senior Russian diplomat said on Friday that President Bashar al-Assad was ready to give up power, a claim that was sharply denied by Syria’s government as “baseless”.
Alexander Orlov, Russia‘s ambassador to Paris, told France’s RFI radio the Syrian leader had nominated a representative to lead negotiations with rebels over forming a transition government. “That means he accepted to leave, but in a civilised manner,” he said.
Mr Orlov added that, in his personal opinion, Mr Assad would be forced to go. “I think it will be difficult for him to stay after everything that has happened,” he said. “But essentially, he has accepted that he will have to leave.”
The comments caused a flurry of speculation that the Kremlin was loosening its support for Mr Assad’s regime, a day after it joined China to block a UN Security Council resolution that would have endorsed the use of sanctions against Damascus.