Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa meets Russian President Vladimir Putin at The Kremlin in Moscow, marking their first talks since the fall of Assad. Image credit: The New York Times
(The Post News) – Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa travelled to Moscow on Wednesday to greet Vladimir Putin for the first time, a historic summit that underscores Russia’s attempt to maintain its role in Syria following the overthrow of longtime Kremlin ally Bashar al-Assad.
The talks are a historic turn in relations between the two countries, barely nine months after al-Sharaa, a former jihadist commander who led the uprising that toppled Assad, became president.
While they were erstwhile enemies on the battlefield, the two leaders took an olive branch tone in the Kremlin, marking a pragmatic new era of relations.
“We are trying to restore and redefine again the nature of these relations in such a way that there would be independence for Syria, sovereign Syria, but also territorial integrity and unity and stability of security,” al-Sharaa told Putin, according to state media.
Putin responded, praising “decades of special relations” between Moscow and Damascus, saying Russia has “always grounded its relations with Syria on the Syrian people’s interests.”
Russia Seeks to Preserve Its Foothold
The meeting follows Moscow’s efforts to secure its strategic military presence in Syria, including Tartus naval base and Hmeimim airbase, after Assad’s ousting, raising questions about current defence and energy pacts.
Al-Sharaa indicated his administration would respect previously signed agreements, though the degree of Russia’s continued military presence remains in question. Syrian officials indicated that negotiations also would touch on reconstruction aid and energy ties.
Russia’s 2015 intervention in Syria’s civil conflict served to strengthen Assad’s grip on power and give Moscow access to a crucial connection with the Mediterranean. But its collusion in large-scale bombings of civilians, documented by a 2020 UN report, left wounds deep and tested Moscow’s credibility in the region.
Following the fall of Assad, Russia reduced its deployments, withdrew naval vessels from Tartus, and dismantled some of its air defence. Damascus subsequently swapped a Russian management contract of a port for Dubai-based DP World, which was part of a broader realignment of foreign alliances.
For al-Sharaa, the visit to Moscow is a bid to present himself as statesman-like and widen Syria’s interlocutors. During his two years as foreign minister, he has hosted Donald Trump, European, and Gulf leaders, securing limited sanctions relief and posing as a moderate reformer.
Syria views Moscow as a crucial postwar ally, as well as an option for balancing Israel, which has carried out successive airstrikes on Syrian targets over the past few months, analysts add.
“Russia has close and long-time ties to Syria, which relate to the very essence of the state’s composition and energy and foodstuff,” al-Sharaa said during a recent interview with CBS News. “We are going to expand that, but on the basis of sovereignty and equality.”
The Assad Question
The destiny of Bashar al-Assad, who lives in exile under Russian guard, loomed over the visit. Reuters said that al-Sharaa was set to request his extradition for war crimes trial, though neither leader addressed it publicly.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week formally confirmed that Assad and his family members were granted asylum “for purely humanitarian motives.” Western media have reported that the former president lives alternately in a five-star Moscow flat and in a country villa, while his wife Asma is undergoing cancer treatment.
The witnesses quote that Moscow is unlikely to extradite Assad, stating it has a history of sheltering such as Ukraine’s ousted president Viktor Yanukovych and fugitive financier Jan Marsalek.
The trip by Al-Sharaa comes after Russia postponed meeting Arab leaders at a summit following a series of Gaza peace talks cancellations, which marked shifting Middle East priorities.
Syrian state media described the Moscow visit as an effort to “reshape relations with Russia” and open a “new chapter” in economic and political cooperation.
Whether the former foes can sustain this newfound pragmatism remains to be seen. For now, both appear intent on preserving influence and face, after a decade that redrew the map of power in the Middle East.
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