Syria’s Assad blames US, allies for fomenting ‘global instability’ to harm Russia

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has blamed the US for fomenting global crises, saying Washington and its Western allies have generated “a state of global instability” in efforts to weaken rival Russia.

The United States and its Western allies "have fabricated a global political and economic crisis and caused a state of global instability with the aim of undermining Russia's position and its international presence," Assad said during a meeting in Damascus with visiting Russian presidential envoy for Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday.

“They used Ukraine as an instrument to push such objectives, but the repercussions of the crisis began to unfold in their respective countries in terms of living conditions, as well as social and economic life,” President Assad further told Lavrentiev and his accompanying delegation.

He also pointed out that Moscow’s firm position toward the West and the United States remains one of the most important factors leading to the emerging establishment of a multi-polar world.

The Syrian president further discussed regional issues with the Russian envoy, including matters such as the return of the Syrian refugees and the need for the withdrawal of Turkish forces from northern Syria.

Lavrentiev, for his part, conveyed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s greetings to Assad, stressing Moscow’s support for the Damascus government to enhance the security and stability of the Syrian nation.

The senior Russian diplomat also underlined the need for closer cooperation between the two countries to secure a decent return of Syrian refugees to their motherland.

He noted that Russia and Syria are committed to the humanitarian dimension of the Syrian refugee crisis, and categorically reject all attempts to politicize the matter.

The development came a week after a senior Russian diplomat lashed out at the persisting illegal presence of US forces in Syria, demanding immediate end to the American illegitimate military occupation of the Arab nation's energy- and mineral-rich regions.

Russian diplomat says US forces deployed in energy-rich regions of Syria

A top Russian diplomat slams the presence of US military forces in Syria, calling upon the Pentagon to end its illegitimate occupation of mineral-rich parts of the country.

“Washington uses the pretext of combating terrorism to be present east of the Euphrates in economically important areas, where crude oil and strategic natural reserves are abundant" said Russian president’s special representative for the Middle East and Africa, Mikhail Bogdanov, who also serves Moscow as deputy foreign minister, in an interview published last week by al-Arabiya television news network.

"At the same time," he further pointed out, "its troops are deployed at al-Tanf area in southern Syria,” blasting the practice as a flagrant violation of the country’s sovereignty and its territorial integrity.

Bogdanov also censured US support in the terror-ravaged country for the anti-Damascus Kurdish-led militants affiliated with the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria.

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