Riyadh doesn't call for al-Assad's immediate resignation, allows for transitional period - Russian senator Umakhanov
RIYADH. April 16 (Interfax) - Riyadh does not demand Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's immediate departure, but assumes that it may happen during the transitional period, Federation Council Deputy Speaker Ilyas Umakhanov told Interfax following a meeting between the Russian delegation and Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir.
"Riyadh allows for a certain leeway and allows for a certain transitional period (during which al-Assad may resign as president)," Umakhanov said, when asked as to whether Saudi Arabia is insisting on Syrian president's immediate resignation.
"The foreign minister (of Saudi Arabia) has voiced this idea," he said.
"This issue is a matter of discussion. The Saudi Arabian foreign minister at Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's invitation is expected to visit Moscow on April 26 to continue consultations," Umakhanov said.
As reported earlier, Federation Council Chairperson Valentina Matviyenko and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia have spoken out for further dialogue between Moscow and Riyadh, including on problems related to the fight against terrorism and on the Middle East settlement.
"Matviyenko and Salman Al-Saud touched on a number of issues including those related to international affairs during their meeting in Riyadh on Sunday. The sides exchanged views on the situation in the Middle East," the press service of the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, told reporters.
"The parties spoke out for keeping an active dialogue on the entire range of areas both on the top level and on the high level. They emphasized the need to jointly fight international terrorism," the Federation Council said.
"Saudi Arabia is one of the key nations in the region. Multifaceted Russian-Saudi interaction is in the interests of the peoples of our countries and serves the cause of maintaining regional and global stability," the Federation Council press service quoted Matviyenko as having said.
Matviyenko noted that contacts between the incumbent leaders of the two countries - the King of Saudi Arabia and Russian President Vladimir Putin - give a tangible impetus to development of bilateral relations in a number of areas and to boosting relationships between the two countries' parliaments, governments and business communities.
King Salman Al-Saud spoke out "for further development of Russia-Saudi Arabia relations in all areas and expressed hope that the outcomes of such interaction will be seen shortly," the Federation Council press service quoted the Saudi monarch as saying.