Putin and Assad discuss bilateral relations and rapprochement between the Syrian regime and Turkey
Conducted by the Russian president Vladimir PutinToday, Wednesday, talks in Moscow with the head of the Syrian regime Bashar al-AssadIt dealt with the relations between the two sides and the rapprochement between the regime and Turkey.
During the meeting with Putin, Bashar al-Assad said that his current visit to Russia “will pave the way for a new stage in Syrian-Russian relations at all levels, and will achieve real results that can be built upon for the next stage.”
The regime’s SANA news agency quoted al-Assad as saying that his visit to Moscow today is the first after the war in Ukraine, reiterating support for Russia in this war, calling for “the need to restore balance to the world today.”
For his part, President Putin said that the relations between the two sides are developing, and the volume of trade exchange between them has increased, with the growth over the past year reaching 7 percent.
The two sides are scheduled to hold a closed session of talks that will touch on many issues and files, most notably the Turkish rapprochement with the Syrian regime.
Putin said in a tweet on Twitter: “I propose to carry out our work today in two stages: in the first stage, we will do it with our colleagues from both sides, and after that we will have the opportunity to talk face to face during a working lunch. These are opportunities to discuss almost all the most important topics in Our cooperation.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin and Assad will discuss relations between Damascus and Ankara during their talks in Moscow, according to what was reported by the Russian “Tass” agency.
The two sides will discuss bilateral relations and “cooperation on the Syrian settlement, with an emphasis on absolute sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria,” according to Peskov.
Yesterday evening, Tuesday, Bashar al-Assad arrived in Moscow for his fifth visit since the start of the Syrian revolution in 2011.
The visit comes in light of efforts led by Moscow to hold a four-way meeting between the deputy foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran, Russia and the Syrian regime, amid conditions set by the regime to obtain Turkish guarantees of withdrawal from Syrian territory in return for participating in the meeting.
Military talks
Both defense ministers participated in the talks on the Russian side Sergey ShoiguForeign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Finance Anton Siluanov, Construction and Housing Eric Fayzulin, and Assistant to the President for International Affairs Yuri Ushakov.
SANA reported that the regime’s defense minister, Ali Mahmoud Abbas, discussed with his Russian counterpart military cooperation between the two sides, and the talks touched on the situation in Syria and bilateral military and technical cooperation.
Shoigu also referred to the cooperation between the two countries in “fighting terrorism in Syria,” considering that “the bulk of this work has been accomplished, and there is still a lot of it.”
The accompanying Syrian economic delegation also held meetings with a number of Russian officials concerned with joint economic cooperation.
The Syrian side in these talks was headed by Mansour Azzam, Minister of Presidency Affairs, while the Russian side was headed by Eric Fezulin, Minister of Construction, Housing and Public Utilities.
According to media outlets close to the regime, the meetings dealt with bilateral economic cooperation in terms of implementing joint investment projects, investment opportunities in Syria, mechanisms for enhancing trade exchange, and the flow of products in the markets of the two countries, especially wheat, oils and fodder, in addition to discussing “important investment opportunities in Syria in The energy sector, from power plants, oil and gas production, and issues of completing a number of water resources and drinking water projects, by benefiting from the expertise of Russian companies operating in this field.
