Syrian president to head to Moscow on Wednesday: officials

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa. (File/Reuters)

• Sharaa is set to hold talks on the continued presence of Russia’s naval base in Tartous and its air base in Hmeimim

DAMASCUS: Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa will head to Moscow on Wednesday, where he is expected to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, a government official and a foreign ministry official said.
It marks Sharaa’s first visit to Russia since the December overthrow of longtime Syrian ruler and Russian ally Bashar Assad, who sought refuge in Moscow.
The scheduled visit “will include President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, the foreign minister, and military and economic officials,” the official, who asked to remain anonymous as he was not allowed to brief the media, told AFP.
The official source added Sharaa is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and that the two sides will also discuss “economic issues related to investment, the status of Russian bases in Syria, and the issue of rearming the new Syrian military.”
A foreign ministry official confirmed the visit and Sharaa’s meeting with Putin, noting that “economic and political issues and the status of Russian military bases in Syria are on the agenda.”
Russia’s naval base in Tartus and its air base at Hmeimim, both on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, are Moscow’s only official military outposts outside the former Soviet Union.
Moscow had used the bases extensively during its intervention in the Syrian civil war on Assad’s side in 2015, with heavy air bombardments of opposition-held areas.
Sharaa was supposed to participate in a Russian-Arab summit to be held on Wednesday, but Moscow postponed it as many Arab leaders due to attend were involved in the implementation of the United States’ ceasefire plan for the Gaza Strip, which went into effect on Friday.
Syria’s new rulers have sought peaceful relations with Russia despite the latter’s former alliance with Assad.
In July, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani was the first senior Syrian official of the new administration to visit Russia.
In January, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and a delegation made the first trip to Syria by Russian officials after the toppling of Assad.