Syria’s President, Ahmed al-Sharaa has told Russia’s President Vladimir Putin that he seeks to “restore and redefine ties” with Moscow, a key ally of ousted longtime Kremlin ally Bashar al-Assad.
Al-Sharaa made the statement in a meeting with Putin in Moscow during his first state visit to the country that has been hosting al-Assad since his exile from Syria 10 months ago.
The meeting was especially notable considering Putin’s long-standing backing of Al-Sharaa’s predecessor, Bashar al-Assad, whose dictatorial regime was ousted by rebel forces in December.
“We are trying to restore and redefine in a new way the nature of these relations so there is independence for Syria, sovereign Syria, and also its territorial unity and integrity and its security stability.”
Ahmed al-Sharaa
Al-Sharaa said that his country was “re-establishing relations with all regional and global countries.” The Syrian leader assured that Damascus would honour all past agreements with Moscow. “There are bilateral relations and shared interests that bind us with Russia, and we respect all agreements made with it,” he said.
Al-Sharaa also noted that based on these close relations, “a significant part of Syria’s energy sector relies on Russian expertise,” adding that Syria “respects all agreements signed with Russia.”
According to Syrian officials cited by certain news agencies, al-Sharaa plans to use the meeting with Putin to request Moscow hand over al-Assad.
However, there was no mention of the sensitive diplomatic matter in al-Sharaa’s brief televised remarks at the beginning of the meeting.
Welcoming al-Sharaa, Putin hailed decades of “special relations” between the two countries, in which he claimed Moscow was always guided by Syrian people’s interests, and said that his government wanted to expand them.
Putin stressed that the friendly Russian-Syrian relations “have never been tied to political conditions or narrow interests,” but are based on the mutual interests of both peoples.
“I welcome President Ahmad al-Sharaa. We have maintained strong relations with Syria for more than 80 years.”
Vladimir Putin
He added that Russia “maintains close ties with the Syrian people and is working to further develop relations with Damascus.” Putin also stated that the Joint Governmental Committee between Russia and Syria will soon resume its activities.
Putin Hails Syria Parliamentary Elections
Additionally, the Russian President praised recent parliamentary elections in Syria – the first since al-Assad’s overthrow – saying that the process would strengthen ties between all political forces.
“I believe that this is a great success for you, because it leads to the consolidation of society, and despite the fact that Syria is currently going through difficult times, it will nevertheless strengthen ties and cooperation between all political forces in Syria.”
Vladimir Putin
Despite having been on opposite sides of the battle lines of Syria’s 13-year civil war that Moscow intervened in, the new rulers in Damascus have taken a pragmatic approach to relations with Moscow, as they have with other foreign powers.
For Damascus, maintaining ties with Russia is important for rebuilding the war-shattered country and shoring up international legitimacy for the government.
In a recent interview, al-Sharaa said,l that Russia has close and longstanding relations with Syria, “which relate to the basic structure of the state and to energy and food, for which Syria depends partly on Russian supplies, as well as some old strategic interests.”
Russia, for its part, has retained a presence at its air and naval bases on the Syrian coast, and the Kremlin has voiced hope for negotiating a deal to keep the outposts.
Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Novak, said later that his country was ready to support Syria in its reconstruction after years of civil war. “Today, we discussed specific projects in energy, transport, tourism, healthcare, and cultural and humanitarian areas,” Novak told reporters.
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