No meeting with al-Assad on Putin's official schedule for now - Peskov

MOSCOW. Dec 9 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to grant political asylum to former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has resigned from his post, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

"Certainly, such decisions can't be made without the head of state. This was his decision," Peskov told journalists on Monday while commenting on reports that al-Assad came to Moscow, where he was granted political asylum.

"We have nothing to tell you regarding Mr. al-Assad's whereabouts for now," he said.

Asked whether Putin plans to meet with al-Assad, Peskov replied, "There's no such meeting on the president's official schedule."

Peskov replied in the negative when asked whether the Kremlin planned to make an official statement on granting asylum to al-Assad. "We're not obliged to do that at all," he said.

He also said it was not appropriate to link Moscow's decision to grant al-Assad asylum "for humanitarian considerations" with media reports showing the liberation of convicts from Syrian prisons.

"It's hardly appropriate to jump to such general conclusions here. It would make sense to look into information concerning each individual case. I don't see this question as an appropriate one," Peskov said.