Russia’s Putin hosts Syria’s Assad in the Kremlin as tensions rise in the Middle East

Russian President Vladimir Putin met President Bashar Assad of Syria in the Kremlin, video distributed by the Kremlin press service on Thursday showed.

Putin told Assad he was concerned that tensions are rising in the Middle East, but neither leader provided further details on their talks. Russia has waged a military campaign in Syria since September 2015, teaming up with Iran to allow Assad’s government to fight armed opposition groups and reclaim control over most of the country. While Russia now concentrates the bulk of its military resources in Ukraine, it has maintained a military foothold in Syria and keeps troops at its bases there.

“I am very interested in your opinion on how the situation in the region as a whole is developing,” Putin said to Assad. “Unfortunately, there is a tendency towards escalation, we can see that. This also applies directly to Syria.”

The Kremlin said Putin and Assad’s meeting took place Wednesday.

Putin and Assad last met in March 2023 in the Kremlin on the anniversary of Syria’s 12-year uprising-turned-civil war. At that meeting, Putin emphasized the Russian military’s role in stabilizing the country.

“Considering all the events that are taking place in the world as a whole and in the Eurasian region today, our meeting today seems very important,” Assad told Putin via a Russian translator.

The Kremlin did not provide details on Putin and Assad’s talks but one potential discussion point was around Syria and Turkey restoring diplomatic relations.

Russia is one of the strongest backers of Assad’s government but also has close ties with Turkey and has been pushing for a return to restart relations.

Turkey and Syria cut their ties in 2011 as mass anti-government protests and a brutal crackdown by security forces in Syria spiraled into the still-ongoing civil war. Turkey backed Syrian insurgent groups seeking to overthrow Assad and still maintains forces in the opposition-held northwest, angering Damascus.

In December 2022, the Turkish, Syrian and Russian defense ministers held talks in Moscow, the first ministerial-level meeting between Turkey and Syria since 2011. Russia also brokered meetings between Syrian and Turkish officials last year.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Assad recently signaled they are interested in restoring diplomatic ties.

Last week, a Turkish newspaper reported that Erdogan would meet with Assad in Moscow in August, but Turkish officials denied the report, saying it did “not reflect the truth.”

Earlier this month, Erdogan said he had called on Assad to visit Turkey or to meet in a third country.

Speaking to reporters on July 15, Assad said that in order for relations to return to normal Turkey would have to withdraw its troops from northern Syria and stop backing insurgent groups that Damascus describes as “terrorists.”

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Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey contributed to this report.

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This story has been corrected to note Putin and Assad’s potential discussion of Syria and Turkey (not Russia and Turkey) restoring diplomatic relations.