(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/121220-putin-415a.photoblog600.jpg)Natalia Kolesnikova / AFP - Getty ImagesRussia's President Vladimir Putin speaks Thursday about Syria and other issues during his major annual news conference in Moscow.By NBC News wire servicesMOSCOW -- Russia's main concern in Syria is the fate of the country and not that of President Bashar Assad, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.
Follow @NBCNewsWorld (https://twitter.com/NBCNewsWorld) He said Moscow wanted to ensure that any solution to the conflict in Syria must prevent the opposition and government forces just swapping roles and continuing to fight indefinitely, Reuters reported.
“We are not concerned about the fate of Assad's regime. We understand what is going on there,” Putin said at his annual, nationally broadcast news conference.
“We are worried about a different thing: What next? We simply don't want the current opposition, having become the authorities, to start fighting the people who are the current authorities and become the opposition -- and (we don't want) this to go on forever," he added.There is a growing sense of desperation at refugee camps along the Jordanian border. Refugees say in Syria you die from warfare, but in the camps it is a slow death caused by hunger and sickness. ITN's Emma Murphy reports.
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That is a very bad scenerio.Why won't they be concerned? This is not so cool