MOSCOW, Jan 28 — Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa will meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin here today, as the Kremlin seeks to secure the future of its military bases in the country.
Putin and Sharaa struck a conciliatory tone at their previous meeting in October, their first since Sharaa’s rebel forces toppled Moscow ally Bashar al-Assad in 2024.
But Russia’s continued sheltering of Assad and his wife since their ouster remains a thorny issue. Sharaa has repeatedly pushed Russia for their extradition.
Sharaa has also embraced US President Donald Trump, who yesterday praised the Syrian leader as “highly respected” and said things were “working out very well”.
“I have no doubt that all issues related to the presence of our soldiers in Syria will also be discussed during today’s talks,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, while declining to comment on Assad.
The Kremlin withdrew its forces from the Qamishli airport in Kurdish-held northeast Syria earlier this week, leaving it with only the Hmeimim airbase and Tartus naval base on Syria’s Mediterranean coast — its only military outposts outside the former Soviet Union.
Russia was a key ally of Assad during the bloody 14-year Syrian civil war, launching air strikes on rebel-held areas controlled by Sharaa’s Islamist forces.
Assad’s toppling dealt a major blow to Russia’s influence in the region and laid bare the limits of Moscow’s military reach amid the Ukraine war.
The US, which cheered Assad’s demise, has fostered ever-warmer ties with Sharaa — even as Damascus launched a recent offensive against Kurdish forces long backed by the West. — AFP
