MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the West had to drop its demands about the political exit of Syrian President Bashar Assad if it wanted a genuinely international coalition against Daesh terrorists.

Lavrov, who said there was still no agreement about Assad’s political fate after international talks in Vienna, said he had detected a change in the West’s position since the Paris attacks and the bombing of a Russian passenger plane.

The US and others want Assad to step aside during or at the end of a transition period.

“I hope the change in the position of our Western colleagues, which has unfortunately only come about as the result of terrible acts of terror, will spread to other Western partners. That the stance that the real battle with Daesh can only be resolved once the fate of Assad is clear, that this position will put to one side,” said Lavrov.

“In my opinion there can now be no doubts that it is simply unacceptable to put forward any preconditions in order to unite in the battle against terrorists.”