06 March 2012 By Tariq Alhomayed Russian presidential candidate
Vladimir Putin issued new statements commenting on the
situation in Syria, and what is interesting is that
these statements were not made in front of the Russian
electorate, but to six international journalists: is
this a new Russian trick, or a message to the West and
our region? Vladimir Putin said that Russia does not have any
"special relationship" with Syria" adding "we only
have interests in the conflict being resolved." The
Russian prime minister stressed that Moscow's aim is
not to help one side at the expense of the other but
to secure comprehensive reconciliation. He also said
that his country's trade interests with Syria do not
exceed British trade interests, or indeed the
interests of any other European country. This is not
all, Putin refused to openly express any support for
al-Assad, responding to a question about al-Assad's
chances of surviving the Syrian revolution by saying
"I do not know, and I cannot speculate on this." Do
the statements made by Putin, the next president of
Russia, indicate a change in the Russian position on
Syria, i.e. is Moscow now open to the idea of
politically selling out al-Assad? Or is this just
another Russian trick to give al-Assad another chance
to crush the Syrian revolution? Before answering, we must relate a story that has
become well-known, namely that the Russians informed a
delegation recently visiting their country – including
a Lebanese political figure – that so long as Putin is
Russia's prime minister, al-Assad will be Syria's
president. However the meaning of this is clear, for
the Russians did not say "so long as Putin remains in
power" or "so long as Putin remains alive",
particularly as later this week, or to be more
precise, the day after tomorrow, it is widely expected
that Putin will be elected the new Russian president!
What is also interesting regarding Putin's statements
is that these were issued to international
journalists, whilst Putin also stated that his country
wants comprehensive relations with Georgia, in other
words Putin is preparing for a new phase in his
political career. I have also heard information from
various Arab sources claiming that Moscow has told
them to stop the campaign of escalation against Russia
and give them until 4 March, i.e. Sunday, when the
Russian presidential elections will take place. Whilst
other sources claim that they have heard that Moscow
is open to the departure of al-Assad, but that Russia
does oppose the complete collapse of the Syrian
regime! We have also seen the Russian ambassador to
Israel warning the Israelis, on a leaked video clip
that can be seen on YouTube, that "if I were you, I'd
prefer a bad guy like al-Assad to a dozen good guys
from the Muslim Brotherhood." This is a conflicting
set of messages, indeed Putin's statements in
themselves are suspicious, particularly when he
claimed that a Russian helicopter landed in Homs and
attempted to rescue French journalist [Edith Bouvier],
but this did not succeed, laying the blame for this on
the Syrian rebels. However what is concerning here is:
were Russian forces involved in the suppression of the
Syrian people, in order to assist al-Assad? Therefore, to answer the questions we must say that
Moscow cannot be trusted, and action must be taken to
aid the Syrian revolutionaries with arms, and more,
particularly as the Syrian people continue to be
mercilessly killed by the al-Assad regime forces. Tariq Alhomayed is the Editor-in-Chief of Asharq
Al-Awsat, the youngest person to be appointed that
position. He holds a BA degree in Media studies from
King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, and has also
completed his Introductory courses towards a Master's
degree from George Washington University in Washington
D.C. He is based in London.
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