The Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, travelled to Moscow on Wednesday for talks with Vladimir Putin, marking their first meeting since the fall of the Kremlin ally Bashar al-Assad and his subsequent exile in Russia.
The talks underscored Moscow’s efforts to safeguard its military foothold in Syria and forge relations with the new rulers in Damascus, with both sides taking a pragmatic approach despite having been enemies only a year ago.
The meeting is notable given that Mr Sharaa, a former jihadist, led the successful rebellion against the Moscow-backed Assad regime last year, in which his rebel forces briefly came under fire from Russian jets before Moscow withdrew its support for the Assad family.
Speaking in the Kremlin, Mr Sharaa said his government respected all previously signed agreements between Damascus and Moscow, indicating that Russia would be allowed to retain its military bases in Syria, though the exact scale of their presence remains unclear.
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Mr Sharaa’s visit comes after Moscow was forced to postpone a long-planned summit with Arab leaders after a series of cancellations by regional heavyweights preoccupied with Gaza peace talks.
In his remarks, Mr Putin said Russia had “always based its relations with Syria on the interests of the Syrian people”, adding that the relationship “has always been exclusively friendly”.
Russia’s 2015 military intervention in Syria’s civil war kept Mr Assad’s brutal regime in power and came at great cost to the Syrian people.
A 2020 UN investigation into atrocities committed in Syria accused Russia of direct involvement in war crimes for indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets such as medical facilities.
Russia’s backing of Mr Assad allowed it to expand its influence and establish several key military facilities in Syria.
The fate of Russia’s two main military bases in Syria was thrown into doubt after Mr Assad’s dramatic fall, and its presence there has since been sharply reduced.
The sites hold an outsized importance to Russia: the Tartus facility gives Mr Putin access to a warm water port, while Moscow has used the Khmeimim airbase as a staging post to fly its military contractors in and out of locations across Africa.
After Mr Assad’s demise, Russia withdrew several naval vessels from its Tartus base, dismantled air defence radars, and airlifted other military equipment and personnel. Syria’s new authorities have also cancelled an investment deal with Moscow over the management of Tartus in favour of DP World, the Dubai-based logistics company.
Russia has continued to supply Syria with oil, grain and other vital resources at discount prices.
Observers have compared Moscow’s flexible diplomacy in Syria to its approach to the Taliban. The group was designated as a terrorist organisation in 2003, but was later courted by the Kremlin after seizing power in Afghanistan in 2021.
For Mr Sharaa, the Moscow visit marks an effort to diversify his alliances and project a more moderate, state-building image. In recent months he has held talks with Donald Trump, as well as several European and Gulf leaders, securing significant sanctions relief while maintaining close ties with Turkey, his main regional backer.
Syria may also view Moscow as a counterweight to Israel, which has repeatedly bombed Syrian military facilities over the past year.
During the visit to Moscow, Mr Sharaa is expected to formally request Mr Assad’s extradition for trial over crimes against Syrians, according to Reuters.
Little is known about Mr Assad’s life in exile since his chaotic exit from Syria aboard a Russian plane.
The German Die Zeit outlet reported last week that the former president divides his time between a luxury Moscow flat and a secure country villa, spending much of his day playing video games. His wife, Asma, who was born in Britain, is reportedly undergoing treatment for leukaemia.
Russia’s longtime foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said on Monday that Mr Assad and his family were granted asylum “for purely humanitarian reasons” after facing risks of repression at home.
Mr Lavrov added that Mr Assad “faces no problems living in our capital” and dismissed rumours that the former leader had been hospitalised owing to poisoning.
Analysts say Moscow is unlikely to extradite Mr Assad, given its record as a haven for fugitives such as Ukraine’s ousted president Viktor Yanukovych and the former Wirecard executive turned FSB operative, Jan Marsalek.
