Moscow, SANA – Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday the calls on Russia to distance itself from President Bashar Assad are short-sighted and absurd as they disregard the need to fight against terrorism and political settlement in Syria.

He told reporters that Russia considers that its key goals are the fight against the Islamic State terrorist group and a search for political and diplomatic settlement in Syria.

“We believe that posing a question on the need to distance from Assad, without mentioning two major goals, are short-sighted,” he said.

Peskov noted that President al-Assad is a legitimate leader from the viewpoint of the international law and is also a commander-in-chief of Syria’s army, which is fighting against international terrorists. In its turn, Russia supports Damascus in this fight.

“That’s why posing a question that Russia should stop supporting al-Assad and therefore stop backing his efforts in the fight against ISIS sound in a rather absurd way as de facto this is probably relevant to the calls to stop assistance and play into the hands of terrorists so that they could continue offensive against the legitimate authorities of Syria,” he said.

M. al-Frieh/H. Said