MOSCOW. May 25 (Interfax) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad assured his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in a telephone call on Tuesday that Syria's government "is determined to prevent activities by radical and fundamentalist groups," the Kremlin said.
"Dmitry Medvedev stated the position of the Russian Federation on the current developments in Syria and surrounding it, and expressed hope that the course of reforms declared by Bashar al-Assad will be pursued by the Syrian leadership as energetically as possible and in a broad dialog with the public of the country," the Kremlin said in a press release.
"Bashar al-Assad said that the Syrian leadership is doing, and will do, its best to guarantee freedom of expression for Syrian citizens that is conducted in a peaceful way. At the same time, the Syrian leadership is determined to prevent activities by radical and fundamentalist groups. In the words of Bashar al-Assad, the course of reforms has been chosen as a matter of principle, and he is determined to pursue it consistently and dynamically," the release said.