Vladimir Putin no longer plans to protect Syrian President Assad (Creative Commons)

Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted on Thursday that "Syria needs change and that he is not protecting its president," USA Today reported.

• "We are not preoccupied that much with the fate of the Assad regime; we realize what's going on there and that the family has been in power for 40 years," Putin said during his annual hours-long news conference. "Undoubtedly, there is a call for changes."
• "We are worried about another thing: what happens next," he said. "We don't want to see the opposition come to power and start fighting the government that becomes the opposition, so that it goes on forever."

Putin's announcement followed a top Russian official stating last week that Assad was losing control to the Syrian rebels.

SEE ALSO: Syria's President Assad Losing Control To Rebels

Putin also said that Russia's position– which has supported Syria in the past– "is not to keep Assad and his regime in power at any cost, but to allow the people to come to an agreement on how they will live further and how they will ensure their safety and their participation in governing the country and then start changing the current order based on those agreements."

Read the full story at USA Today here.

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