Click to see full-size image. (The Syrian Presidency Office\X)
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad made a surprise visit on July 25 to Moscow, where he met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
The visit came amid renewed Russian-led efforts to defuse tensions between Turkey and Syria. Relations between the two have been bad since 2011, when Ankara sided with Western-backed rebels seeking to overthrow Assad’s government.
During the meeting, Putin told the Syrian president of his concern with the “tendency towards escalation” in the Middle East, according to the Russian presidential press service.
“This also applies directly to Syria,” the Russian President said, adding that “there are also a lot of issues” to discuss regarding trade and economic cooperation.
Assad responded by saying that while Russia and Syria “have gone through very difficult tests,” over the past decades, relations between the two countries have maintained a “level of trust.”
“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 to discuss all the details of the development of these events, to discuss possible prospects and scenarios,” he added.
Russia efforts to reconcile Turkey and Syria regained momentum in May with help from Iraq. In June, both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Assad voiced their readiness to meet, although the Syrian President renewed calls for the withdrawal of Turkish forces from the country.
Commenting on recent reports suggesting that Erdogan and Assad could meet with Assad in Moscow next month, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that efforts to establish contacts between Turkish and Syrian representatives “at various levels” are on Moscow’s agenda.
“Many countries and, of course, Russia, as a country playing a significant role in the region, are interested in helping the two countries improve relations,” he told reporters on July 23, adding that both sides resuming dialogue is “very important for the entire region.”
The reconciliation with Turkey was likely behind Assad’s surprise visit to Moscow. The meeting with Putin will likely speed up the process, which is seen by many sides in the Middle East as a necessity considering the instability caused by the Israeli war on the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip and the related confrontations in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
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