Putin Says Assad Ready to Hold Early Elections

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad is ready to call in a snap parliamentary vote to allow a "healthy" opposition to join power.

"There have to be political changes in Syria. This is being discussed by parties interested in fighting the dangers of [Islamic State]. Russia understands the need of political changes in Syria which should hand in hand to the powers withstanding Islamic State," several Russian media outlets have quoted Putin as telling reporters at an economic forum.

"Assad agrees to this [and to] early parliamentary elections," Putin has added.

In his words, Russia could consider joining international forces to combat IS, but it is "too early" to discuss Russian military action in Syria.

"And the Syrian president agrees with that, all the way down to holding early elections, let's say, parliamentary ones, establishing contacts with the so-called healthy opposition, bringing them into governing," Newsweek quotes the Russian President as saying at the Eastern Economic Forun in Vladivostok in Russia's Far East.