Saudi Gazette report RIYADH — Ambassador of Russian Federation to the Kingdom Oleg Ozerov has denied targeting civilians in Syria and said his country was ready to work with Saudi Arabia to obliterate terrorism. “Moscow and Riyadh share the same vision and are in complete harmony on a political solution to the Syrian crisis based on the outcome of the Geneva-1 conference,” he told the Dammam-based Alsharq newspaper. He praised Saudi Arabia's fight against terrorism and deviant ideology. Ozerov said the terrorists were not only threatening the Middle East but the entire world and as such must be annihilated. He said Russia's air strikes in Syria, which began on Wednesday, were aimed at destroying terrorists, preventing the total collapse of the state and preserving Russia's national interests in view of the fact that a number of Russians are fighting along side the terrorists. “We do not want these Russian terrorists to return to the country,” he said. The ambassador said the main objective behind Russia's military presence in Syria is to destroy Daesh and similar other terrorist organizations in the region. “We are there to save Syria from complete collapse,” he added. “The terrorists have come to Syria in large numbers from Russia, the US and Europe. They are now chopping heads, killing children and destroying neighborhoods and historic monuments,” he said. Ozerov said Russia could not stand idle oblivious to what the terrorists are doing in Syria and elsewhere especially when they are expanding their reign of terror. “This undoubtedly worries us particularly that the results of the work of the International Alliance are still below the desired level,” he said, adding that the objectives of Russia and the alliance are the same. The ambassador denied that the Russians were killing innocent civilians in Syria. “We are doing what the alliance is doing, which is to destroy the sources and potentials of the terrorists, to stop them from spreading to other areas in the Middle East and avoid the complete destruction of Syria,” he said. Ozerov strongly denied that Russian warplanes were targeting civilian areas. “We will never do this. These are only rumors. There is no proof that we have targeted civilians or the areas free of terrorists,” he said. The ambassador said his country is totally against the division or the destruction of Syria. “We want to defeat the terrorists before starting a completely new political process to end the Syrian crisis,” he said.
