MOSCOW. Aug 19 (Interfax) - Russia does not support the position of U.S. President Barack Obama and European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, who demanded that Syrian President Bashar Assad step down, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.
"We do not share the point of view of the United States of America and the European Union regarding President Bashar Assad and will further pursue our principled policy line on Syria," he told Interfax, commenting on the U.S. and EU calls for the Syrian leader to step down.
Moscow believes the Syrian leadership should be given time to implement the announced reforms, Lukashevich said. "Our position with regard to the events occurring in the Syrian Arab Republic consists of granting this country's authorities led by President Bashar Assad the sufficient time and resources required for the implementation of the large-scale program of socio-political and economic reforms, announced by him earlier," he said.
"Recently, Damascus has taken quite significant steps in this direction: the state of emergency has been lifted, the Supreme State Security Court has been dissolved, a decree has been adopted regarding the exercise of citizens' rights to peaceful demonstrations, the laws about general elections and political parties have been enacted, and the work on passing the legislation regarding mass media and local self-government is nearing completion," Lukashevich said.
Syria is due to hold parliamentary elections before the end of 2011, and complete the constitutional reform before February-March 2012, he said. On top of that, the Syrian leadership has announced amnesty for political detainees and opened its territory to humanitarian agencies, he said.
"The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is currently in Syria. The Syrian authorities are also due to receive a delegation from the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights," Lukashevich said.