SOCHI: President Vladimir Putin said the Russian army had “saved Syria as a state” after meeting with leader Bashar al-Assad in Russia, as Syrian regime forces take an upper hand over rebels and the Islamic State group.
Monday’s talks came during an unannounced “working visit” by Assad to the Black Sea resort of Sochi, ahead of a summit between Putin and the leaders of Turkey and Iran on Wednesday aimed at re-booting the Syrian peace process.
“As for our joint work in the fight against terrorism in Syria, this military operation is coming to an end,” Putin said, according to a transcript published on the Kremlin’s website.The Russian leader praised Assad and predicted terrorism would suffer an “inevitable” defeat in the country.
“Thanks to the Russian army, Syria has been saved as a state. Much has been done to stabilise the situation in Syria,” the transcript said.“It is in our interest to advance the political process... we don’t want to look back and we are ready for dialogue with all those who want to come up with a political settlement,” Assad said in translated comments.
Putin to inform Saudi king about his meeting with Assad: Kremlin: Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a telephone conversation with the king of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to inform him about his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Kremlin said. “Today there will be Putin’s telephone conversation with the king of Saudi Arabia, and one can certainly expect that Putin will inform his Saudi counterpart about yesterday’s meeting,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters. Putin hosted Assad in his Black Sea residence in Sochi on Monday to talk about the need to move from military operations to the search for a political solution to Syria’s conflict, the Kremlin said.