Washington Will Be Blamed When ISIS Takes Over Damascus After Assad Regime Falls: Russian Envoy

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin believes that Russia and the United States have one thing in common now as neither of the countries wants Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down.

The U.N. ambassador said that the U.S. government did not want the Assad regime to fall, adding that the matter was “very complex.” The U.S. government does not want to harm the Syrian government while fighting against the Islamic State group, Churkin added.

"On the other hand, they don't want the Syrian government to take advantage of their campaign against (ISIS)," CBS News quoted Churkin as saying. "But they don't want to harm the Syrian government by their action."

Churkin said that playing the blame game would not solve the Syria crisis. He said in the interview that there was no point in fighting ISIS alone.

Churkin hoped the Ukraine conflict would soon pass to create an atmosphere for establishing better Russia-U.S. relations. He added that working on the implementation of the Iran agreement was an opportunity for both the countries to improve relations.

According to the Russian envoy, Washington’s view about Assad has evolved over time as the nature of the Syrian conflict has changed. He said that the U.S. administration was concerned about the fall of the Assad regime.

"To me, it is absolutely clear that...one of the very serious concerns of the American government now is that the Assad regime will fall and (ISIS) will take over Damascus and the United States will be blamed for that," he said.

Assad, meanwhile, accused Europe of double standards. He said Europe was responsible for the migrant crisis as it supported terrorism.

“Europe is still supporting terrorism and providing cover for them,” Russia's Sputnik News quoted the Syrian president as saying.