Putin: too early to speak about sheltering Assad in Russia
None
MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that it would be too early to speak about granting political asylum to Syrian President Bashar Assad, a Putin ally and arguably the main obstacle in the Syrian peace process.
Putin said in an interview with the German daily Bild published on Tuesday that Moscow is advocating for a constitutional reform in Syria and if the next election is democratic, "Assad won't have to go anywhere, no matter if he is elected president or not."
While Putin refused to speculate on a possible Moscow's role in helping to remove Assad, he indicated that it would not be too difficult for Moscow to do.
"We granted asylum to Snowden," he said referring to the American whistleblower Edward Snowden. "That was more difficult than (it would be) to shelter Assad."
