Page 3 - ATD 23OCT,2015
P. 3
UP FRONT A3
Friday 23 October 2015
Russia shows military might in
Syria, also pushes diplomacy
V. ISACHENKOV “As I understood from my Russian pilots climb to their Su-30 jet at Hemeimeem airbase, Syria, on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015.
Associated Press conversation with President
HEMEIMEEM AIR BASE, Syria Assad the day before yes- Since early morning, Russian combat jets have been taking off from this base in western Syria,
(AP) — As Russia unleashed terday, he is ready for such
waves of warplanes Thurs- a dialogue,” Putin added. heading for missions. (AP Photo/Vladimir Isachenkov)
day from this air base in A military victory over the
western Syria to pound militants “will not solve all involvement of Iran. ed and that Syrians should able to rapidly move to im-
militant targets, President problems, but it will cre- In Berlin, Kerry said the U.S., choose their own future plement that and it’s a per-
Vladimir Putin pushed dip- ate conditions for the main Iran, Russia and Europe leadership, but “one thing son called Assad, Bashar
lomatic efforts with the thing: a beginning of a po- agree Syria should be unit- stands in the way of being Assad.”q
West, stressing the need “to litical process to encom-
consider each other as al- pass all healthy, patriotic
lies in a common fight.” forces of the Syrian soci-
Russia put its military muscle ety,” Putin said.
on display, bringing Mos- His words echoed those of
cow-based reporters to Syrian government officials
view a day’s worth of fight- who have expressed readi-
er jets roaring off a runway ness to negotiate with the
in dozens of sorties as heli- “patriotic” opposition —
copter gunships patrolled a term generally used to
the edges of the sprawling describe unarmed, mostly
facility. Damascus-based govern-
Russian Foreign Minister Ser- ment critics who are toler-
gey Lavrov and U.S. Sec- ated by Assad.
retary of State John Kerry Putin also said Russia and
will meet Friday in Vienna, the West are establishing
joined by their counterparts contacts to coordinate
from Saudi Arabia and Tur- their operations.
key, both staunch critics of “We are close to the start
President Bashar Assad. of exchanging information
Lavrov said he wanted to with our Western coun-
provide “firsthand informa- terparts on positions and
tion” about the Russian air movements of the militants.
campaign against Islamic This is certainly a step in the
State militants in Syria, but right direction. The most im-
also talk about a future po- portant thing is to consider
litical process in the coun- each other as allies in a
try that is now in its fifth year common fight.”
of civil war. Putin said he asked Assad
The U.S. and other Western about how he would view
powers have questioned it if Russia identified Syrian
Russia’s primary motive in armed opposition groups
the airstrikes that began “prepared to oppose and
Sept. 30 and have backed really fight terrorists, IS. How
up a Syrian government would you regard it if we
offensive in central and support their efforts in the
northwestern regions. Mos- fight with terrorism in the
cow says it is fighting IS and way that we are support-
other extremist groups like ing the Syrian army?”
the al-Qaida-linked Nusra He said Assad responded:
Front, but Washington and “I regard this positively.”
others say the intervention The Kremlin said Putin also
is to prop up Assad and is talked on the phone with
likely to fan the violence. the leaders of Turkey, Saudi
The intervention is also al- Arabia, Egypt and Jordan
lowing Russia to portray it- ahead of the Friday ses-
self as a major global play- sion.
er, projecting its military Lavrov said in televised re-
power far from its borders. marks that Moscow is ea-
Assad met Tuesday with ger to invite other countries
Putin in a surprise visit to from the region to the talks,
Moscow to discuss the especially Iran — another
military operations. In a supporter of Assad.
speech Thursday at a con- Although Lavrov said that
ference in Russia’s southern Russia had agreed to meet
resort of Sochi, Putin said with the U.S., Saudi Arabia
Syria’s leaders “should es- and Turkey, he reiterated
tablish working contacts that Moscow “remained
with those opposition forc- convinced” that a settle-
es that are ready for dia- ment of the Syrian crisis
logue.” had no future without the
