Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev slammed France and other states’ "unacceptable" recognition and support to the so-called “Syrian Opposition Coalition”.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev slammed France and other states’ "unacceptable" recognition and support to the so-called “Syrian Opposition Coalition”.
Britain and France have joined Turkey and Arabian Peninsula states in recognizing a newly formed opposition bloc as the sole representative of the Syrian people. Paris has also suggested arming the opposition fighters.
In a wide-ranging interview with AFP and Le Figaro ahead of a visit to Paris starting Monday, Medvedev stated that "from the point of view of international law, this is absolutely unacceptable.”
"A desire to change the political regime of another state by recognizing a political force as the sole carrier of sovereignty seems to me to be not completely civilized," he added.
The Russian PM Further said: “Let the Syrian people decide the personal fate of Assad and his regime… it is preferable if they (the opposition forces) came to power legally and not because of deliveries of arms from other countries.”
Medvedev also tackled the EU economic crisis, considering that it forms “a serious threat".
He said that Moscow was “nervously watching the economic crisis in the European Union,” indicating that “it represented a serious threat to Russia's own economic performance”.
"We see this as a very serious threat," said Medvedev.
"We are to a large extent dependent on what happens in the economies of the EU,” he added, noting that “EU states account for half of Russia's trade volume while Moscow holds some 41 percent of its foreign currency reserves in Euros.”
He assured that "we are watching nervously. Sometimes it seems our European partners lack the energy and will to take decisions. And there is that endless dispute of what is better, fiscal consolidation or development.”
In another context, Medvedev said he is not ruling out a return to the Kremlin after his 2008-2012 single term as Russian president, but was happy working as premier under President Vladimir Putin.
"If I have sufficient strength and health, if our people trust me in the future with such a position, then of course I do not rule such a turn of events,” he said, pointing out that his return to the presidency depends on a whole range of factors."
"Never say never, especially as I swam in that river once and this is a river that you can swim in twice," he considered.
