"Which countries were firmly against it (the military intervention)? Russia, the People`s Republic of China, India, Indonesia--mind you, the largest Muslim country by population, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, and Italy," Putin said.
By Azi Fitriyanti

Jakarta, Sept 10 (Antara) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised Indonesia for its firm stand against military intervention in Syria.

According to a press release from the Russian Embassy here on Tuesday, President Putin made the statement during a press conference with Russian media in St Petersburg following the G20 Summit on September 6.

Putin was answering a question about the development in Syria that influenced the global economy in a very serious way and what the G20 stands regarding the US plan to take military intervention in order to stop the bloodshed.

"Which countries were firmly against it (the military intervention)? Russia, the People`s Republic of China, India, Indonesia--mind you, the largest Muslim country by population, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, and Italy," Putin said.

An official Russian source said during the G20 meeting, President Putin also praised Indonesia's Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa who had met many sides including the UN General Secretary, to arrange a peace talk to end the violence in Syria.

As the host of the G20 Summit 2013, Russia had also put the middle east issues, particularly Syria crisis, as an agenda to be discussed.

"We indeed spent much of Thursday night (Sept 5) discussing Syria and related issues. And I had a bilateral meeting with Mr Cameron," said Putin.

The G20 during the talk about the Syria crisis urged the US to cancel the plan to use military force and called all sides to seek a peaceful solution.

G20 Summit 2013 was held in St Petersburg on Sept 5 to 6. The summit has adopted the St Petersburg Action Plan that mainly addressed the medium term goals for reducing budget deficits and conducting comprehensive structural reforms for each country.

These include urgent measures to regulate the labor market and taxation, develop human capital, upgrade infrastructure, and regulate commodity markets. ***1***
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INE
(T.A060/A/KR-BSR/F001) 10-09-2013 14:57:12

Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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