Syrian president pins high hopes on Russian mediation

AMMAN, March 27 (KUNA) -- Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said that Russian mediation efforts aimed at reaching a settlement to the crisis in his country should lead to "dialogue solely among Syrians." The official Syrian news agency, SANA, on Friday quoted the president as saying that he was pinning high hopes on the second round of talks between his government and oppositions groups, due to be hosted by Moscow in April. "Our assessment of the Russian initiative is very positive," he said.
The Russian initiative, he said, is aimed at halting the war and paving way for political settlement, however he stressed that this initiative to be successful should lead to dialogue among the Syrians themselves, without external influence.
He expressed backing for a UN-crafted plan to start the solution process by halting fighting in the Aleppo region, and re-affirmed staunch backing for the Russian military presence in the Mediterranean "for sake of creating balance of powers." Moscow hosted the first round of such conciliation talks in January. (end) tk.rk