Syrian President Bashar Assad is not Moscow’s ally like Ankara is to Washington despite Russia’s support of the Syrian leader in his fight against terrorism, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Sputnik in an exclusive interview.

The United States, the European Union, as well as their allies in the Middle Eastern region consider Syrian President Bashar Assad to be illegitimate and call for his resignation, while Russia and Iran insist that it was up to Syrian people to decide the fate of their country and leadership.

“Assad is not our ally, by the way. Yes, we support him in the fight against terrorism and in preserving the Syrian state. But he is not an ally like Turkey is the ally of the United States,” Lavrov said.


Comment: What Lavrov is saying between the lines is that Assad is not a yes-man for Russia and Russia doesn’t tell Assad what to do. The US on the other hand does tell its puppet leaders like Erdogan, Merkel, etc. what to do, and Lavrov is carefully making the distinction that Russia doesn’t operate the way the US does.

On September 30, Moscow began its air campaign in Syria on Damascus’ request, during which the Russian Aerospace Forces conducted precision airstrikes against the extremists’ targets. On March 14, Putin ordered to withdraw most of Russia’s military contingent from Syria after accomplishing its objective.

The Russian leader has repeatedly stated that Moscow’s campaign in the war-torn country would only be limited to air operations.