Russian President Vladmir Putin has warned of the conflict in Syria continuing “forever” and has insisted that Russia is not propping up the Syrian regime.

Speaking at a news conference, Putin said,

"We are not concerned about the fate of Assad's regime. We understand what is going on there and that the family has held power for 40 years,"

"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 (we don't want) this to go on forever."

However, Putin did not directly call on Assad to step down, instead saying,

"What is our position? Not to leave Assad's regime in power at any price, but to first (let the Syrians) agree among themselves how they should live next,"

"We are for a solution being found to the problem that would save the region and the country from, firstly, falling apart, and from a never-ending civil war. Our position is not to keep Assad and his regime in power at any cost… Only then should we start looking at ways to change the existing order."

The Russian President went on to slam Western intervention in Libya, stating,

“No matter how they explained their position, the state is falling apart... Interethnic, inter-clan and intertribal conflicts continue. Moreover, it went as far as the murder of the United States ambassador.” He added, “I was asked here about mistakes: Isn’t it a mistake? And you want us to constantly repeat these mistakes in other countries?”