A Russian lawmaker says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad views the federalization of Syria as destructive for the Arab country.
During a Tuesday meeting with Russian parliamentarians in Damascus, the Syrian president said the Syrian people share the same idea about dividing the country into federal states, Russia's State Duma lawmaker Alexander Yushchenko told reporters following the meeting with Assad.
Assad also warned that turning Syria into small regions run by extremist groups would put the world at risk, the lawmaker said.
"Today, the fighting goes on for Syria's future at the talks in Geneva, Bashar al-Assad told us at the meeting, adding that, in his view, federalization will ruin Syria," Yushchenko added.
According to the Russian lawmaker, during the meeting, Assad also positively assessed the potential of the Syria peace settlement within the framework of the Geneva dialogue.
On March 17, Syrian Kurdish groups, along with their Arab and Assyrian Christian allies, declared a federal region in the country’s Kurdish-dominated north. The move was also denounced by the Damascus government, as well as the Saudi-backed Syrian opposition groups, also known as the High Negotiations Committee, which took part in the latest round of UN-brokered peace negotiations in Geneva.
The Arab League on March 21 rejected the “separatist” Kurdish push for a federal government system in Syria, citing the risks it poses to the territorial integrity of the conflict-ridden country.
