Embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad delivered a rare speech on Sunday and called for a "national dialogue conference" before a referendum on a national charter and the creation of a new government.

Assad's public address, the first since last June, came after Russia pressured the Syrian regime to emphasize its openness to dialogue with the opposition to end the 22-month-old bloodshed in Syria.

Denouncing his opponents as "enemies of God and puppets of the West," Assad urged every citizen, including those opposed to the regime but staying at home, to join his ranks to end the conflict.

"The nation is for all and we all must protect it," he told crowds packed into the Dar al-Assad Center for Culture and Arts in Damascus. He told the audience that waiting for help from others would "only lead the country to disaster," according to the BBC.

Assad's speech was occasionally interspersed with applause and chants from supporters.

He also spelled out a transition plan, insisting that any decision must be purely Syrian and ratified by referendum, including a national charter that would be agreed on in a national dialogue conference.

That charter would then be put up for a referendum vote, followed by new parliamentary polls and the creation of a new government, the president said.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Makdad visited Moscow in late December, when Russia urged the Syrian government to act on its stated readiness for dialogue with its opponents.

"I would rather call it a good advice rather than pressure from our Russian friends," Imad Moustapha, the Syrian ambassador to China, told the Global Times. "We are always open to advice, but we don't take orders from abroad."

"The president's speech is aimed at boosting the morale of Syrian patriots," Moustapha said. "The president confidently offered amnesty and talks to those who are willing to lay down their weapons while vowing to fight against armed terrorists till the end."

However, opposition figures insisted Assad's relinquishing of power would be the prerequisite to any political transition in Syria.

"Assad speech beyond hypocritical. Deaths, violence and oppression engulfing Syria are his own making, empty promises of reform fool no one," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a message on Twitter, according to Reuters.

"Assad simply repeated his empty promises before the forthcoming three-way meeting among Russia, the US and the UN peace envoy (Lakhdar) Brahimi. We are not interested in Assad's offer at all but his leaving from power," Bekir Atacan, a senior member of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, told the Global Times by phone on Sunday.

A spokesman for the EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton  said, "We will look carefully if there is anything new in the speech but we maintain our position that Assad has to step aside and allow for a political transition."

Assad gave an interview to Russian television in November, in which he dismissed suggestions he would go into exile, saying he would only "live and die" in Syria.

In Sunday's speech, Assad stressed that the Syrian government is "willing to talk to the masters (of those terrorist groups) but not the puppets (of foreign powers)."

"It's the Western countries, but not us, that categorically reject any talks," said Moustapha.

Agencies contributed to this story