MOSCOW, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Russia would accept anyone as Syrian president who had popular support, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Thursday.
"Russia never interferes in domestic affairs of sovereign states, we don't engage ourselves in social engineering," the diplomat said in an interview published on the ministry's website.
He said presidential candidacy was the exclusive choice of the Syrian citizens, "who are the only ones who have a right to decide that."
Bogdanov said all other domestic problems, including settlement of the armed conflict in Syria, "are in hands of the Syrian people" too.
The diplomat outlined the task of the international community and Russia as to create a favorable outside environment for the intra-Syrian dialogue.
Meanwhile, Bogdanov expressed Moscow's satisfaction with the process of chemical disarmament in Syria in line with UN Resolution 2,118.
He said the successful work of the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) experts in Syria had been carried out due to openness of Damascus and its readiness to cooperate with the OPCW and the United Nations.
He called it highly important that Resolution 2,118 also be implemented by the opposition by allowing the experts access to chemical weapons storage sites under their control.
Russia believed all chemical arsenals in Syria could be dismantled by mid-2014, the diplomat said.
|
