Moscow responds to the reports that it is in talks with the the US to grant political asylum to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad - the AFP reports:

Russia on Wednesday denied holding talks with the United States about offering Syrian President Bashar al-Assad exile as a way out of 16 months of bloodshed that has claimed more than 16,500 lives.

"The situation with the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is not being discussed with the United States," Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Interfax news agency.

Moscow's Kommersant daily had earlier quoted a Russian diplomatic source as saying that Western nations led by the United States were making "active attempts" to persuade Moscow to offer a home to Assad.