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Putin said it was too early to say whether Russia would have to shelter Assad, whose country has disintegrated in a civil war that has lasted almost five years.
“First the Syrian population has to be able to vote, and then we will see if Assad would have to leave his country if he loses the election,” Putin said.
Putin admitted that he thinks Assad has “done much wrong over the course of this conflict”.
But he added: “the conflict would never have become so big if it had not been fuelled by outside of Syria – with weapons, money and fighters.”
Putin reiterated Russia’s position that it is supporting Assad, a longtime ally, in an effort to avert a failed state scenario like in Libya.
“We do not want Syria to end like Iraq or Libya,” Putin said. “Look at Egypt: one has to praise President [Abdel] Sisi for taking over the responsibility and power in an emergency situation, in order to stabilise the country.”
When asked about Assad’s military bombing fellow Syrians, Putin said “Assad does not fight against his own population, but against those who take armed action against the government”.
“If the civil population is then also harmed, it is not Assad’s fault, but primarily the fault of the insurgents and their foreign supporters,” Putin said.
However, he added that “once again, this is not supposed to mean that everything is fine in Syria or that Assad is doing everything right”.
Putin also said his country would “resist” Nato member Turkey if that country threatens Russia’s national security, referring to Turkey shooting down a Russian warplane in November on the accusation that the plane flew into Turkish territory.
“I very much hope that such events do not grow into large military conflicts. But if Russia’s interests and security are threatened, Russia will resist. Everyone needs to know that,” Putin said.
He added that, if Turkey attacks Russia, Nato does not need to get involved.
“Turkey is part of Nato, but it was not attacked. Nato therefore does not have to protect Turkey, and our problems with Turkey have nothing to do with the Nato membership of that country,” Putin said.
“The Turkish leadership had better apologise for shooting the plane down, which was clearly a war crime, instead of calling Nato’s headquarters,” Putin said.
