Pak Sahafat_ the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was the guest of his Russian counterpart in Moscow on an unannounced visit. Some analysts interpreted the purpose of the trip as emphasizing the continuation of the fight against terrorism, increasing trade to counter sanctions, coordinating the two countries’ political positions before Russia’s talks with the United States, and examining the Syrian political process.
According to Pak Sahafat, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Moscow on Monday on an unannounced visit and met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, which was reported in the media on Tuesday.
This is the first bilateral meeting since 2015 in Moscow, which was held in an unannounced manner.
The Syrian president had previously met with his Russian counterpart in 2018 at his summer resort in the Sochi region by the Black Sea.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov stating the reason for not announcing Assad’s visit to Russia was security reasons and said: There are a number of specific security measures and reasons that should have been followed, and this is quite clear, and accordingly, the time of the trip was not announced, and the news was announced to the media after Assad returned to Syria.
The trip was important in another sense, as it symbolically coincided with the sixth anniversary of Russia’s military involvement in the fight against terrorism alongside the Syrian resistance and its assistance to the government and army in liberating the occupied territories from terrorists.
Russia began its direct military participation in the fight against terrorism in Syria on September 30, 2015, alongside the Syrian army and the Axis of Resistance, and strengthened its permanent military presence after reaching an agreement with the Syrian government in 2017.
The assistance of Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah, and other resistance forces along with Russia to the Syrian army changed the equation of war, inflicting successive defeats on terrorist groups and their regional and western supporters, and liberating large areas of Syrian territory.
It was in this context that the Syrian president said during a meeting with his Russian counterpart in Moscow that the Russian and Syrian armies were involved in protecting the lives of innocent people in the world against terrorism.
Emphasis on continued cooperation in the fight against terrorism and Russia’s support for the Syrian political process and the results of the recent presidential election, emphasis on the illegitimacy of the presence of foreign forces on Syrian soil and the illegality of US and European sanctions against the Syrian government and people and economic issues were among the highlights of the meeting of Putin and Assad.
During the meeting, Putin called the presence of foreign forces in Syria without the permission of the Syrian authorities and government one of the main problems and issues facing Syria: The presence of foreign armed forces in Syria without the permission of the United Nations and without the permission of Syria is a major problem in Syria, and it contradicts international law.