Aleppo siege is 'war of extermination', says injured doctor Read more“Russia intervened to save the country, for the sake of Syria,” Kassis said on al-Jazeera programme Opposite Direction on Tuesday. Baussart introduced Kassis, a former Damascus socialite, to Sergey Lavrov, according to Joseph Bahout, a Syrian expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “The Russians in their cynicism tried to impose these people as an opposition delegation to the peace talks in Geneva. He said he had very strong ideas on Syria, but would only discuss them off the record. That suggestion and his son’s attendance at the Paris meeting have reinforced earlier impressions that he would rely heavily on personal and business connections in foreign policy, using family members as go-betweens despite their lack of experience.

Source: The Guardian November 23, 2016 23:40 UTC