He Russian President Vladimir Putin received this Wednesday in Moscow his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, one of his closest allies and one of the few partners who stands by his side without raising ‘buts’ or conditions. In fact, after the meeting, Al-Assad has defended the Kremlin using the same rhetoric and the same vocabulary that he uses Russian officialdom to refer to the conflict with Ukraine, and reiterated his support for the “special operation” against those he has described as “old and new Nazis». “They are old and new because the West welcomed the old Nazis and is now supporting them again,” he added.
There was anticipation before the meeting, since the Syrian leader was bringing to the Russian capital a good number of ministers, who were received by personalities such as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia and Special Envoy of the Russian President for the Middle East and Africa, Mikhail Bogdanov; Syria’s ambassador to Russia, Bashar Jaafariand Russia’s ambassador to Syria, Aleksandr Yefimov.
This has been the first official visit by the Syrian president to Russia since the offensive in Ukraine began, and also the first he has made outside the Middle East since the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on February 6. “I would like to thank the ministries and us [governamentals] of the Russian Federation that helped to face the consequences of earthquakes“, he stated. As he highlighted, thanks to this support “the number of victims and the magnitude of the damage have been reduced considerably”. After the catastrophe, Russia was one of the countries that sent aid to Syria. Damascus criticized the West’s lack of support for European and American sanctions on the country.
Involvement in the Syrian civil war
For his part, Putin has pointed out that the current situation in Syria is the result of “joint efforts” of the two countries and the “decisive contribution of the Russian Armed Forces». According to the leader of the Kremlin, thanks to the Russian contribution “significant results were achieved in the fight against international terrorism». And it is that Al-Assad owes his permanence in power above all to Russia. To fight pro-democracy rebels and Islamic State jihadists, Russian troops and military aircraft participated alongside pro-government forces in the civil war that began in 2011 and is still ongoing today.
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They were particularly important bombing rebel positions by Russian aviation, including those performed on civilian positions such as hospitals. That is why Syria is today one of them bigger allies of Russia in the Middle East, as evidenced by facts such as systematically positioning itself in the United Nations together with Moscow or the recognition of the annexation of Ukrainian territories – both Crimea and Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk and Lugansk – by Russia .
This help has been rewarded with the permission of Damascus for Russia to have military bases in the Arab countryboth in Khmeimim, Latakia province, and the naval base of Tartús, in the Mediterraneanthe only one of its kind in warm waters outside the territory that was part of the Soviet Union.