Russia will not back UN call for Assad to go: Ifax

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will not support any U.N. Security Council resolution demanding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad resign, a senior Russian diplomat was quoted as saying on Friday.

He stopped short of saying Moscow would veto a Western-Arab draft if the call for Assad to step aside was not removed.

"Any decision about a future political settlement in Syria must be made during the political process without ... preliminary conditions, and the demand for Assad's resignation is a preliminary condition," Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov as saying.

"We cannot support a call to support Assad's departure in any U.N. Security Council resolution," he was quoted a saying.

(Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel; Writing by Steve Gutterman)