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Russia, Saudi Arabia pledge to boost cooperate on Syria crisis

Xinhua, October 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Defense Minister Muhammad bin Salman Al Saud vowed Sunday to continue working together to find a political solution in Syria.

Speaking after a meeting between Putin and the Saudi defence minister in the southern Russian city of Sochi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said "the two sides discussed practical steps to reach a political settlement in Syria."

They also emphasized the importance of not to letting "a terrorist caliphate get the upper hand in Syria," Lavrov was quoted by the TASS news agency as saying.

The two "shared the goal of having national reconciliation in Syria so that all Syrians, regardless of their nationality or religion, feel themselves masters of their land," Lavrov added.

The meeting came nearly two weeks after Russia launched its air campaign against the terrorist group Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria on Sept. 30. The West said Russia's military action is targeting rebel groups opposed to the Syrian government instead of the IS fighters.

Moscow denied these allegations, saying that it has no political agenda in Syria and that its bombing of the IS positions is inline with the U.S. priority.

During the talks, Putin reiterated Russia's understanding of Saudi Arabia's concerns over the situation in Syria, citing years of cooperation between the two countries' on the issue, he said.

Putin assured the Saudi defense minister that Russia's ongoing air raids in Syria are "exclusively against the Islamic State (IS) and other terrorist groups."

Earlier in the day in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel, Putin said that Russia had conducted careful reconnaissance with data from different sources before launching the counter-terror attacks. Endit