President al-Assad gave an interview to the Russian channel of RT, in which his excellency touched upon the policy adopted by the West with Syria and the world; the policy that is built on the hypocrisy and lies, stressing that the US is the most rogue country in the world, and that the visit by its chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to northeastern Syria is a violation of international law.

Question: Mr. President, your official and public visit comes in light of accelerating regional and international changes. What has changed with regard to Damascus? Is Syria today facing a new phase. And your meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the 15th of March, is there any symbolism for this day?

President al-Assad: No, there is no symbolism for this day. But, yes there is an importance to the visit. But what has changed! Damascus is a part of the world in which we influence and are influenced. The question is what has not changed for this world. During the past few years, Corona epidemic emerged to change all lifestyles and all politics, the economy, and interests. The war in Ukraine changed more. The truth is that today we live in a more changing world, and this visit is important because it re-establishes new common perceptions between Russia and Syria towards this new world in which we affect and are affected on a daily basis.

Question: Syria is experiencing the repercussions of the aftermath of the earthquake, politically and economically. What files did you discuss with President Putin at the Kremlin yesterday?

President al-Assad: From a political point of view, events do not wait for you. If we are late in dialogue, drawing up perceptions, and later in drawing up executive plans, these events will bypass us, and we will lose a lot at the level of national interests for us or for Russia.
From an economic point of view, when we talk about war and siege, and above all of that an earthquake, economic work becomes a more urgent need. It may be that talking about the economy in circumstances of disasters is more important than any other talk. Therefore, during this visit, the economic files that were raised were the widest, the most comprehensive.
Therefore, I think that the timing of the visit, although it was planned before the earthquake, comes at a very appropriate time.

Question: You are talking about the sanctions on Syria, but some of these sanctions have been lifted over the aftermath of the earthquake… Today, what is required to rehabilitate the damaged Syrian cities… Is there specific figures after 12 years of war and the present earthquake… the figures may be imaginary now?

President al-Assad: The assessment for the losses of war was more than $400 billion but this is an approximate figure. It may be more than that, taking into consideration there are out-of-control government areas. The realized figure for the earthquake is $50 billion, and it is also a hypothetical number because assessing the damage, whether it is public or private buildings or the infrastructure, still needs time and has not been completed yet.
However, we should not consider the damage, whether in war or in an earthquake, as it is only a material one that affects the buildings, facilities and infrastructure, but rather it is the damage inflicting to the economy in general. The earthquake economic losses may reveal far greater losses than the material damage.
Now, concerning your question, what is required that there are sanctions that have been lifted. No.. the truth is none… Some humanitarian aid was allowed, but the economy needs facilitation to deliver various raw and non-raw materials necessary for public life in any country, including industry, trade, and others. Other than that, this issue has not changed. Regardless of the aid, Syria is able to rehabilitate itself after the war and after the earthquake because it has all the factors for reconstruction, but the major impediment in this regard is that this process is now significantly more expensive and more difficult, yet, it is being done, but in specific sectors such as electricity. Consequently, what is requires for Syria; it is to lift the embargo.

Question: The West is lying when they talk to the media that the sanctions have been lifted to help the Syrian people, whether they are in areas controlled by the state or outside its control .. Is this political hypocrisy?

President al-Assad: European policy is based on lying in everything and towards all files. The Syrian file is one of their lies, so of course the West is lying. If you do not lie today, you will not be Western. This is the reality now and I am not exaggerating. We have dealt with them in many files for years, even when relations were good between Syria and the West, the relationship was one of hypocrisy and lies on the part of the West against Syria, as is the case with other countries, and as is the case with regard to the Ukrainian issue and any other issue… Of course they lie, they want to show their fake humane face in relation to the earthquake in Syria, so as not to say that they took an inhumane stance, but in fact did not present anything.

Question: The earthquake has also hit Turkish cities, and it is no longer a secret that efforts are being extended to normalize with Ankara. Can the joint catastrophe accelerate the process of rapprochement and settle disputes. Turning a blind eye, perhaps, to some practices. Isn’t it the time for this?

President al-Assad: Actually, the earthquake hit the Turkish citizen; it affected the people. I do not even think that there is separation between the two peoples in general; rather the problem is that the politicians in Turkey have special ambitions to achieve through the war in Syria.
This is how the situation was at the beginning of the war, and still is, so the answer to your question is that the only earthquake that changes Turkish policies and pushes for rapprochement at present is the presidential elections in Turkey, nothing else.

Question: In this context, it was recently said that a summit could bring you together with President Erdogan, whether it was with Russian or Russian-Iranian mediation within the framework of the quadrilateral talks of Astana. In politics, as you know, there are no permanent friendships or permanent enmity. Are you ready to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan?

President al-Assad: The natural question in such a situation is what is the goal of any political meeting, at any level? It is to achieve specific results, so what are these results? For us in Syria, the priority is the withdrawal of all illegal foreign forces, and this basically means the US and Turkey, there are no other illegal forces in Syria, along with stopping their support for terrorism… This means the so-called “Jabhat Tahrir al-Sham” and “al-Nusra”, whatever their names are… as the component is one and the supporter is one. The last Turkish proposal for the quartet meeting at the level of assistant foreign ministers is that there should be no agenda for the meeting… that there should be no conditions by any party… and that there should be no expectations, so what is the purpose of such meeting? why should we go? In order to take photos? they say that Syria will only go with the maximum conditions. Raising the issue of withdrawal is a fixed and core demand that will not change. It is a national issue, not a political one, but to go to a meeting we do not know why, nor how, nor anything, then here is the problem, we are trying to set a clear agenda

Question: This means you are not participating in tomorrow’s scheduled meeting at the level Deputy Foreign Ministers here in Moscow. This meeting will not take place?

President al-Assad: We insist that either there be a clear agenda or that Syria adheres to the withdrawal item. If there is none, the only agenda for the Syrian side will be the Turkish withdrawal from Syria.

Question: Mr. President, in case the demands or the Syrian vision are met, will the meeting between you and the Turkish President Erdogan take place before or after the Turkish elections scheduled to be on May 14? It said that holding the al-Assad-Erdogan summit or not holding this summit would decide a lot in the Turkish elections whether the presidential or parliamentary ones. The timing here is crucial. Are you ready to give President Erdogan the elections card?

President al-Assad: When there is a meeting between two sides, there must be something in common. You propose completely different priorities, and there is no intersection between them. The priority of the Turkish state and the Turkish president is the elections and nothing else. All that serves the elections is priority for them.
With regard to Syria, the priority is withdrawal and restoration of sovereignty. All that serves the restoration of sovereignty and withdrawal from Syrian territory is top priority. So where is confluence of interests in that? There is none. If the first objective meets the second, we have no problem if the withdrawal from Syria will lead Erdogan winning the presidential elections but till now we haven’t seen any convergence, each side is working with different priorities, and herein lies the problem.