Putin: Terrorists Are not Allowed to Stay in Syria’s Idleb

BEIJING – Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed that terrorists are not allowed to stay in Syria’s Idleb and that Russia will continue to support Syria in its war on terrorism.

Putin made the remarks during a press conference on the sidelines of the “Belt and Road” Forum in the Chinese Capital Beijing, according to the Syrian News Agency SANA.

The terrorists are controlling most of Idleb and they pose threat to civilians, so they are not allowed to stay there, Putin said, noting coordination with Syria in this regard.  

according to Reuters, President Putin also said he did not rule out Syrian forces, backed by Russian air power, launching a full-scale operation against militants in Idlib, but that such an operation was “unpractical” for now.

He stressed that Moscow and Damascus would continue the fight against terrorism.

But Putin said the presence of civilians in parts of Idlib where militants were also active meant the time was not yet ripe for full-scale military operations.

 “I don’t rule it (a full-scale assault) out, but right now we and our Syrian friends consider that to be inadvisable given this humanitarian element,” Putin told reporters.

 No One Wants Trade Wars, Restrictions Except Initiators of Such Measures

In another context, Putin said that no one in the world wants restrictions and trade wars, except those who initiate them.

“No one wants any restrictions, no one wants any trade wars, expect those who initiate these processes, I believe. The overwhelming majority, almost 100 percent [of people] are sure that these restrictions and wars damage the global economy and its development”, Putin said, according to Sputnik.

All the countries, with representatives of which Putin has met on the sidelines of the forum, want to cooperate with Russia, Putin added.

“We have very kind business relations with many of our partners, with the overwhelming majority of the world’s countries, and we value this. All whom I have met want to work with us”, Putin said.

While not naming any particular country, the Russian president apparently referred to the trade wars initiated by US President Donald Trump’s administration to counter what Washington describes as “unfair” economic relations, provoking a trade imbalance. Particularly, a trade dispute between Beijing and Washington has been underway since last June when Trump announced that the US would impose import tarrifs on Chinese goods worth of $50 billion in a bid to fix the trade deficit between the two countries. Since then, China and the US have exchanged several rounds of trade tariffs.

The US has also been locked in what appeared to be an escalating trade war with the EU after the Trump administration imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from the bloc as well as from Canada and Mexico.

Vladimir Putin has attended the second Belt and Road international forum that was held in the Chinese capital of Beijing from Friday to Saturday.

Russia Ready to Meet Oil Demands of China, Other Countries

“Russia is ready to meet the demands of China and many others global partners. We are the world’s biggest [oil] producer. We produce 11.5 million barrels [of oil] per day, and we can produce even more”, Putin said.

He added that Russia had an enormous potential in oil production.

“Not the potential matters, but the fact that we have agreements with OPEC that we will stick to a certain level of production”, Putin explained.

Putin Proposes Tying China’s Maritime Silk Road with Russian Northern Sea Route

During the forum, Putin proposed to unite the Russian Northern Sea Route and the Chinese Maritime Silk Road and called upon the participating nations to join the initiative.

“We pay great attention to the development of the Northern Sea Route. We are considering the possibility of uniting it with the Chinese Sea Silk Road, thereby creating a global and competitive route connecting north-eastern, eastern and south-eastern Asia with Europe,” Putin said.

According to the Russian leader, this large-scale project implies close cooperation between Eurasia’s countries in increasing transit traffic, building port terminals and logistics centers.

“We invite the states [which take part in the forum] to join the initiative,” Putin added.

The Northern Sea Route (NSR) is Russia’s main Arctic shipping path, the shortest maritime passage between the Far East and the European part of the country.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a reference to the Silk Road Economic Belt, was launched by China back in 2013. The initiative says that its aim is to enhance “all-around connectivity through infrastructure construction”, explore “new driving forces for world economic growth” and build “a new platform for world economic cooperation”.

Hamda Mustafa