During his visit to Athens on Wednesday, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov said that the ousting of incumbent President Bashar al-Assad is necessary for resolving the Syrian crisis. The Bulgarian foreign minister added that in order for the crisis to be resolved Islamic State (IS) should be defeated and extinguished. According to him, this could be achieved only through a cooperation between all the countries interested in finding a stable solution for Syria. Mitov noted that unilateral actions would not contribute to solving the crisis, daily Dnevnik informs. In his words, Russia has a role to play in finding a solution to the crisis in Syria, but this could not be achieved through setting preliminary conditions on the future role of Assad as his figure created deep divisions within the countries of the Middle East. The foreign minister added that Bulgaria was in favour of finding a civilized solution to the crisis. Mitov admitted that it was clear that Assad should be involved in the negotiations, but a controlled political solution should include the ousting of the incumbent president.