BTN News: Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Syrian President Bashar Assad at the Kremlin. This meeting was shown in a video released by the Kremlin’s press service on Thursday. They talked about the rising tensions in the Middle East, but did not give many details about their conversation.
Russia has been involved in a military campaign in Syria since September 2015. They teamed up with Iran to help Assad’s government fight opposition groups and take back control of most of the country. Even though Russia is mainly focused on Ukraine now, it still has troops in Syria at its bases there.
Putin shared his worries about the growing problems in the Middle East and asked for Assad’s thoughts. “I want to know your opinion on how the situation in the region is changing,” Putin said to Assad. “Sadly, we can see things getting worse. This also affects Syria directly.”
The Kremlin said the meeting took place on Wednesday. The last time Putin and Assad met was in March 2023, which marked the 12th year since the Syrian uprising turned into a civil war. During that meeting, Putin talked about the important role of the Russian military in making Syria stable.
“This meeting today is very important, given all the events happening around the world and in Eurasia,” Assad told Putin through a Russian translator. The Kremlin did not give details about their recent talks, but one important topic was bringing back diplomatic ties between Syria and Turkey.
Russia strongly supports Assad’s government but also has close ties with Turkey. Russia has been pushing for Syria and Turkey to start talking again. They cut ties in 2011 when large protests against the Syrian government turned into a civil war. Turkey backed groups trying to overthrow Assad and still has forces in the northwest part of Syria, which is controlled by the opposition. This angers Damascus.
In December 2022, defense ministers from Turkey, Syria, and Russia met in Moscow. This was the first meeting at this level between Turkey and Syria since 2011. Russia also helped arrange talks between Syrian and Turkish officials last year to restore their ties.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Assad have both recently shown interest in rebuilding diplomatic relations. A Turkish newspaper said last week that Erdogan would meet with Assad in Moscow in August, but Turkish officials denied this, saying it was not true. Erdogan said earlier this month that he had invited Assad to visit Turkey or to meet in a third country.
On July 15, Assad said that for things to return to normal, Turkey must remove its troops from northern Syria and stop supporting insurgent groups that Damascus calls “terrorists.”
These ongoing talks and efforts to fix the relationship between Syria and Turkey are very important. The possible restoration of diplomatic ties could change the balance of power in the region and affect the future of the Syrian conflict.
