Putin calls for patience, rules out Assad's immediate ouster

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian President Vladimir Putin called for patience to let natural changes occur in Syrian society instead of demanding that the Arab republic’s leader Bashar al-Assad step down, Sputnik says.

"Is it not better to be patient and facilitate the change in social structure itself? And, with patience and while facilitating structural societal changes, to wait for natural changes to occur inside?" Putin said in an interview with Bloomberg published on the Kremlin website Friday, September 2.

He warned that structural changes in Syrian politics will not come "any day now."

"This is the essence of political wisdom: not to make a fuss and get ahead of ourselves, but gradually work toward structural change, in this case toward the society’s political system," Putin stressed.

Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to President Bashar Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups. On February 27, a U.S.-Russia brokered ceasefire came into force in Syria. Terrorist groups, which maintain a heavy presence in Aleppo, are not part of the deal.