Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged Syrian people themselves to decide the fate of Syria not the leaders of other states, as he stressed that was "short-sighted" to think that the crisis would be solved if President Bashar al-

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged Syrian people themselves to decide the fate of Syria not the leaders of other states, as he stressed that was "short-sighted" to think that the crisis would be solved if President Bashar al-Assad agreed to step down.

"To think that Assad's departure would mean the removal of all the problems is a very short-sighted position and everyone understands that if this happened the conflict would most likely continue," the ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Medvedev as telling Russian reporters at a summit in Seoul.

Medvedev added that he wanted "the Syrian people, and not respected leaders of other states, to make the decisions about Syria's fate."

He said Syria should at all costs avoid the fate of Libya where NATO carried out air strikes that played a key role in the downfall of Muammar Gaddafi.

"There is no democracy there," Medvedev was quoted as saying. "There is no Gaddafi there but there is no democracy there either, no-one knows how long this will last. This state has yet to remain on the map as a single entity."