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Syrian president arrives in Moscow for talks with Russian counterpart

Wednesday, 15 March 2023 1:58 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 15 March 2023 3:02 AM ]

Picture provided by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (L) being welcomed by Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, upon arrival in Moscow on March 14, 2023.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has arrived in Moscow at the head of a ranking delegation for high-level talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Assad arrived at Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport on Tuesday, heading a "large ministerial delegation," the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.

He was welcomed by Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.

The Kremlin said in a statement that Putin would be holding talks with the Syrian chief executive on Wednesday.

"Topical issues of further development of Russian-Syrian cooperation in the political, trade, economic, and humanitarian spheres, as well as prospects for a comprehensive settlement of the situation in and around Syria will be discussed," the Kremlin said in a statement.

Russia played an important role in helping Damascus out after the Arab country found itself in the grip of rampant foreign-backed violence in 2011.

In September 2015, Moscow launched a campaign of backup aerial flights that helped the Syrian army and its allies take back huge swathes of the Syrian territory from foreign-backed militants and terrorists.

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The Russian Defense Ministry says it has eliminated a group of US-backed militants in Syria as they were hiding in shelters in the White Desert.

Together with Iran and Turkey, Russia has also served as one of the guarantors of negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition. The negotiations have mostly been held in the Kazakh capital of Astana since 2017 towards restoring the Arab country's situation back to normal.

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Iran, Russia, and Turkey have held a trilateral summit on the Syria peace process, emphasizing Syrians’ right to determine their country’s fate.

Also on Tuesday, media reports said ties between Damascus and Ankara would also be among the topics of Assad and Putin's talks during the Syrian head of state's stay.

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