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Tuesday 12 Jan 2016 - 19:36 Makkah mean time-2-4-1437
Moscow, (IINA) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that his country could give asylum to Syrian regime leader Bashar Al-Assad if he is forced to leave his country, DPA reported.
"It was surely more difficult to grant Mr. Snowden asylum in Russia than it would be in the case of Assad", Putin told Germany's most popular tabloid, Bild, referring to former US intelligence worker turned whistleblower, Edward Snowden, who was given asylum in Russia in 2013.
Putin said it was too early to tell whether Russia would have to shelter Al-Assad, whose country slipped into a civil war that 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 Al-Assad has "done much wrong over the course of this conflict".
When asked about Al-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.
He added: "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".
AG/IINA
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