The Syrian president started his visit in Moscow by laying flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Wednesday morning, and then proceeded to meet with President Putin.
"Dear Mr. President, I am very glad to see you in Moscow. Thank you for accepting our invitation. We are in constant contact and our relations are developing," Putin said, greeting Assad.
Putin noted that the efforts of Russia and Syria have led to tangible results in the fight against international terrorism in the Middle East, and added that Moscow is helping in every possible way in dealing with the recent disastrous earthquake, that hit the region.
Assad thanked the Russian leader and ministries for their help in dealing with the earthquake's aftermath.
"First, I want to redirect the words 'thank you' to both you and all ministries of the Russian Federation that were present and helped in [overcoming] the consequences of earthquakes. Also the Russian Defense Ministry, its crews, its military, who were directly involved in evacuation of all the wounded from under the rubble," Assad said.
Russia-Syria Interstate Relations
Diplomatic relations between the USSR and Syria were established in July 1944. They are now based on the basic Soviet-Syrian Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation of October 8, 1980.
The internal political crisis in Syria, which began on the wave of the Arab Spring in March 2011, has turned into an armed confrontation. Extremism in the Syrian Republic has taken many forms: the terrorists entrenched in in the country have threatened not only Syria, but the entire Middle East and North Africa.
On September 30, 2015, Kremlin Chief of Staff Sergey Ivanov reported that Assad had asked Russia for military assistance. Putin submitted a proposal to the Federation to adopt a resolution to consent to the deployment of a contingent of the Russian Armed Forces abroad. The Federation Council unanimously supported it.
Moscow declared that the military goal of the operation was to provide air support to Syrian government forces in their fight against the Daesh* terrorist group.
Su-24 bombers of the Russian Aerospace Forces at the Khmeimim airbase in Syria.
© Sputnik / Dmitriy Vinogradov
/ On December 6, 2017, president Putin announced the complete defeat of Daesh on both banks of the Euphrates River in Syria. The active phase of the Russian military operation lasted until December 11, 2017.
At present, large-scale active combat operations in Syria are over. Most of the Russian military has already left the republic, but part of the group will remain in the country indefinitely to fight terrorists. Since 2015, more than 63,000 Russian soldiers have taken part in the operation and more than 100 have been killed.
On December 11, 2017, Putin and Assad met at the Khmeimim Air Base with Russian and Syrian military personnel participating in the anti-terrorist operation in Syria.
On January 7, 2020, Putin visited Damascus for the first time. Together with Assad, he visited the command post of the Russian Armed Forces, where they received reports from the military. The presidents then toured the Umayyad Mosque, and Putin visited St. Mary's Orthodox Church, where he spoke with Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East.
In recent years, Assad has visited Russia several times – in October 2015, November 2017, May 2018, and September 2021, also communicating with Putin regularly by phone.
The Russian military is distributing humanitarian aid to Syrians affected by the devastating recent earthquake.
© Sputnik
In 2022, Damascus expressed full support for the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.
Recent political interaction has focused mainly on discussing the situation in and around Syria and the issue of an intra-Syrian settlement.
Russia, together with Turkiye and Iran, is acting as a guarantor of the ceasefire in Syria. These countries initiated the Astana peace process. Thanks to this initiative, temporary de-escalation zones have been established and are functioning, allowing for a sustainable ceasefire, improvement of the humanitarian situation, and reconstruction of the destroyed social and economic infrastructure.
The latest round of the Astana format talks took place on November 22-23 in Astana, Kazakhstan. The 19th round of consultations was attended by delegations of guarantor countries, representatives of the Syrian government and opposition, as well as the UN. The parties agreed to hold the 20th international meeting on Syria in Astana in the first half of 2023.
According to the Federal Customs Service of Russia, the trade turnover between Russia and Syria in 2021 amounted to about $606 million, including Russian exports - about $594 million - and imports - about $12 million.
The basis of Russian exports are grains. Imports include fruits and nuts, salt, sulfur, earth and stone, plaster materials, lime and cement. In 2022, the main products of Russian exports to Syria were wheat and meslin (a mixture of soft wheat and rye) - their share from January to September 2022 was more than 77%.
Russia provides humanitarian assistance to the Syrian population affected by the armed conflict. In 2016, 2017, 2019-2020 there were free supplies of Russian wheat to the Syrian Arab Republic. moscow also actively assists Syria in solving the problem of refugees and internally displaced persons.
There are close relations between the Russian and Antiochian Orthodox Churches. Contacts are maintained between representatives of the churches. In January 2023, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, visited Syria.
Moreover, Moscow aims restore the historical artifacts, damaged by the conflict. In early October 2019, a team of Russian scientists in Syria completed a survey of monuments to create two computer projects of Palmyra's landmarks, which were subsequently donated to the future Palmyra Museum.
Engineers at the International Main Action Center of the Russian Armed Forces clear the historical part of ancient Palmyra of mines.
© Sputnik / Ministry of defence of the Russian Federation
/ In November 2019, during the visit of Mikhail Piotrovsky, general director of the State Hermitage Museum, to Damascus, a cooperation agreement was signed with the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums of the Syrian Arab Republic governing the restoration of cultural monuments in Syria.
And in March 2022, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the St. Petersburg Institute of the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums of Syria on the restoration of the Arch of Triumph in Palmyra.
* Daesh (also known as Islamic State/ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other countries