Medvedev Criticizes France for Backing Syria Rebels

Local Editor

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, speaking before a visit to Paris on Monday, criticized France's support for the Syrian rebels and accused European Union leaders of indecisiveness in dealing with the region's economic crisis.

This came as France became the first European power to recognize Syria's new opposition coalition as the so-called representative of Syrian people and said on November 13 it would look into arming rebels.
Medvedev, who stepped down as president in May to make way for Vladimir Putin, said such a decision was "unacceptable".

"The desire to change a political regime in another state through recognition of some political force as the sole sovereign representative seems to me not entirely civilized," Medvedev told French journalists in an interview cleared for publication on Monday.

Medvedev echoed Putin's statements that Russia takes a neutral stance, saying that "Russia supports neither [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad's regime nor the opposition."
"But ... the question is how right it is to ... decide to support another political force if that political force is in direct confrontation with the officially recognized government of another country. And from the point of view of international law, it seems to me that is absolutely unacceptable."

The Russian top official further urged the West to "let the Syrian people decide the personal fate of al-Assad and his regime."
"It is preferable if they [the opposition] came to power legally and not because of deliveries of arms from other countries," he said.

Moscow has also criticized Turkey's requested deployment by NATO of Patriot missiles on the border with Syria, warning that the move raises the risk of expanding the conflict.


Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org