© AFP Photo
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin gestures during a press conference at the end of the G20 summit on September 6, 2013 in Saint Petersburg
The alleged chemical weapons use in Syria is a provocation carried out by the rebels to attract a foreign-led strike, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the G20 summit.
There was no 50/50 split of opinion on the notion of a military strike against the Syrian President Bashar Assad, Putin stressed refuting earlier assumptions.
Only Turkey, Canada, Saudi Arabia and France joined the US push for intervention, he said, adding that the UK Prime Minister's position was not supported by his citizens.
Russia, China, India, Indonesia, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and Italy were among the major world's economies clearly opposed to military intervention.
President Putin said the G20 nations spent the "entire" Thursday evening discussing the Syrian crisis, which was followed by Putin's bilateral meeting with UK Prime Minister David Cameron that lasted till 3am Moscow time.
Russia "
will help Syria" in the event of a military strike, Putin stressed as he responded to a reporter's question at the summit.
"Will we help Syria? We will. And we are already helping, we send arms, we cooperate in the economics sphere, we hope to expand our cooperation in the humanitarian sphere, which includes sending humanitarian aid to support those people - the civilians - who have found themselves in a very dire situation in this country," Putin said.
