Medvedev: we have no plans to stay in Syria forever

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with Time magazine that Russia is pursuing a concrete objective in Syria and does not plan to maintain its military presence indefinitely.

"We have no plans for such a never-ending presence in Syria," he noted.

According to the Prime Minister, Russia has been carrying out "a very limited and a specific task, which is based on Assad’s request". "Therefore, he will not be the one deciding on the scale of the Russian military involvement, but the Russian authorities and President will do it," Medvedev stressed.

"We would like Syria to stay within its historic borders as a unified country," Medvedev said.

The dialogue with partners on the Syrian settlement "gives us grounds for some cautious optimism in the hope that we will be able to reach an agreement about the future, about the way the resolution process in Syria will go, about inter-Syrian dialogue, its principles, its participants and about a ceasefire," he concluded.