MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd July, 2020) Russian President Vladimir Putin never said that Moscow was against Iran's presence in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday, commenting on the former US National Security Adviser John Bolton's book statements.
"The Room Where It Happened" was released on June 23 after a Federal judge dismissed the Justice Department's request to block it on the grounds that it contains classified information. The author claimed in his memoirs that at a meeting in the Kremlin in June 2018, Putin assured that Russia was not interested in the presence of the Iranian military in Syria.
"Mr. Bolton had no reason to quote President Putin, just because President Putin never said anything like that. It is not in our rules and traditions, and certainly not in the rules of President Putin personally, to try to play this kind of game behind our partners' backs," Lavrov told reporters after meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Moscow earlier in the day.
The diplomat then went on to note that Iran was one of the initiators and participants of the Astana format.
Lavrov added that Moscow had never related to what Bolton had to say about Russia or its allies in his controversial book, which is nothing but a mere opportunity to sell more copies.
"We never associate what Mr. Bolton said to our Russian friends [with reality], including to Mr. Putin. We believe that this is not true and does not correspond to the level of cooperation that Iran is pursuing with Russia, as well as with Turkey, to create peace and stability in Syria. He [Bolton] certainly is taking this opportunity to sell his book. Of course, no one in Tehran or Moscow bribes on these words," Lavrov told reporters after meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Moscow earlier in the day.
Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has previously said that the Kremlin considered most of the information published in Bolton's book to be confidential, but its publishing was not Russia's business.
