As many Syrian neighbors as possible, including Iran, should be involved in the conflict settlement, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
“I believe that the more Syrian neighbors are involved in the resolution process, the better,” Putin told reporters in Jordan, the final point of his two-day Mideastern tour.
He said that each neighbor has a certain influence on the forces inside the country. “Ignoring these possibilities would be counter-productive and would complicate the process,” he said.
Putin also confirmed Russia’s position on the Iranian nuclear problem, which, according to him, “can and should be solved peacefully through negotiations.”
Putin, whose Mideastern tour began with visits to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, said the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements were possible.
“I saw that our Israeli partners are willing to make advances to the Palestinian side and Palestinians are certainly willing to resume peace talks if some previous agreements are observed,” he said.
During his visit to Jordan, Putin held talks with King Abdallah II and attended the opening ceremony of a hostel for Orthodox Christian pilgrims.
The hostel comprises a guesthouse for pilgrims, a chapel, a café and a reception hall and is located close to the site where Jesus Christ was baptized in the River Jordan.
A one-hectare plot on the bank of the Jordan River was allocated to Russia for free in July 2006 on the king’s initiative.
Thousands of Russian pilgrims visit Jordan every year and Putin praised the hostel’s opening as “a gesture of special relations.”
