Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa will meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday, as the Kremlin seeks to secure the future of its military bases in the country.
– Putin and al-Sharaa struck a conciliatory tone at their previous meeting in October.
– Russia’s continued sheltering of al-Assad and his wife since their ouster remains a thorny issue. Al-Sharaa has repeatedly pushed Russia for their extradition.
– Al-Sharaa, meanwhile, has embraced US President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday 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.
– Russia 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.
– “A discussion is planned on the status of bilateral relations and prospects for developing them in various fields, as well as the current situation in the Middle East,” the Kremlin said.
– The United States, which cheered al- Assad’s demise, has fostered ever-warmer ties with al-Sharaa.