HAMBURG. July 8 (Interfax) - De-escalation areas in Syria should be created with due respect for Syria's territorial integrity, these areas must interact between them and Damascus, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday.
"The main thing is to ultimately ensure the territorial integrity of Syria, so that these de-escalation areas become a prototype for such territories which would be able to cooperate both between them and with Damascus," Putin told a press conference after the G20 summit in Hamburg.
"If we succeed in doing this, then we will doubtless create a good base, the ground for resolving Syria's problem politically," Putin said.
He also said that he had a "very detailed" discussion of the issue at his meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
The difficulties of creating the de-escalation areas are mainly due to differences between the regional countries and so a compromise is needed, he said.
"Everyone has their concerns, preferences, interests, the legitimate interests. And that is exactly how this should be treated: as legitimate interests," Putin said.
"We need to look for compromises. You know, sometimes we succeed in doing this," Putin said
"That the active hostilities have ended and we are now working on these de-escalation areas is already a huge step forward," he said.
"Now we need to agree on what the boundaries of these areas will be, how security will be provided in these areas," Putin said.
"It is a painstaking, at first glance even tedious, but extremely important and responsible job," Putin said
"Relying on the positive experience that has been gained recently, relying on the good will of Iran, Turkey, and certainly of the Syrian government and President [Bashar] al-Assad, we will be able to make further steps," Putin said.