Moscow considers Western obsession with the personality of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad incomprehensible, while rooting out terrorism should be the priority in resolving the Syrian crisis, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

“We have said time and again, responding to relevant criticism that we do not support Mr. Assad personally, that we are concerned about the existence of Syria’s statehood and the forces that will be able to counter the terrorist threat on the ground,” she said. “This is important for both Syria itself and the international community. With all due sympathy for the Syrian people, a practical perspective is present here as well.”

Zakharova added that if Syria falls to the terrorists’ onslaught, this will lead to grave consequences not only for the whole country but also for the region and Europe. “We do find this obsession with Assad’s personality incomprehensible. It is necessary to start off by cooperating in combating terrorism without any preconditions rather than with this,” she said.

According to Zakharova, those who insist on any prerequisites “are thus pushing us towards playing into the hands of terrorists.”.