BEIRUT: President Vladimir Putin’s overture to opponents of Russia’s bombing campaign in Syria was snubbed on Monday, with Saudi sources saying they had warned the Kremlin leader of dangerous consequences and Europe issuing its strongest criticism yet.
Nearly two weeks since joining the 4-year-old war in Syria, Putin took his biggest step to win over regional opponents, meeting Saudi Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of a Formula One race in a Russian resort on Sunday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that those talks, along with discussions with the United States, had yielded progress on the conflict, although Moscow, Washington and Riyadh did not agree in full "as yet".
But a Saudi source said the defence minister, a son of the Saudi king and one of the chief architects of its regional policy, had told Putin that Russia’s intervention would escalate the war and inspire militants from around the world to go there to fight.
Riyadh would continue to support President Bashar al-Assad’s opponents and demand that the Syrian leader leave power, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity while describing the talks with the Russians.
European foreign ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, issued a statement calling on Moscow to halt its bombing of Assad’s moderate enemies immediately.
They were unable to agree on whether Assad should have any role in ending the crisis but they did decide to extend sanctions by essentially freezing the assets of the spouses of senior Syrian figures. "The recent Russian military attacks ... are of deep concern and must cease immediately," ministers said in their most strongly-worded statement on Russia’s intervention in a war which has claimed the lives of 250,000 people and caused a refugee crisis in neighbouring countries and Europe.
"The military escalation risks prolonging the conflict, undermining a political process, aggravating
the humanitarian situation and increasing radicalisation," said the ministers.
Moscow says it targets only banned terrorist groups in Syria, primarily Islamic State. In its briefings, it describes all of the targets it strikes as belonging to Islamic State.
However, most strikes have taken place in areas held by other opposition groups, including many that are supported by Arab states, Turkey and the West in a war which has also assumed a sectarian dimension with Shi’ite Iran at odds with Saudi Arabia’s Sunni rulers.
For the first time since World War Two, Russian warplanes are flying combat missions in the same air space as Americans, who are leading a military coalition of Western and regional countries that is also bombing Islamic State, with all the accompanying risks. Those countries say Assad’s presence makes the situation worse and he must leave power in any peace settlement.
They accuse Moscow of using Islamic State as a pretext to bomb other enemies of Assad, a charge denied by Russia.
Syrian forces and their allies from the Lebanese militia Hizbullah, backed by Iranian military officers, have launched a massive ground offensive in coordination with the Russian air support.