Syrian president Assad arrives in Moscow, set to satisfy Putin

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BEIRUT — Syrian President Bashar Assad arrived in Moscow on Tuesday, the place he’s scheduled to satisfy high ally Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia is a primary backer of Assad and has a broad presence in Syria, the place a 12-year uprising-turned-civil conflict has killed practically half one million individuals and displaced half the nation’s pre-war inhabitants. Moscow has performed a pivotal position in preventing again armed opposition teams attempting to topple Assad’s authorities by its army help, and has additionally aggressively backed Damascus towards opponents on the United Nations.

The Kremlin confirmed Tuesday that Putin will meet with Assad on Wednesday — the anniversary of the battle — in a press release carried by Russia’s state information company Tass.

According to the assertion, “further development of Russian-Syrian cooperation in the political, trade, economic and humanitarian spheres, as well as the prospects for a comprehensive settlement of the situation in and around Syria,” might be on the agenda.

Assad was obtained by Putin’s particular consultant for the Middle East, Mikhail Bogdanov, at Moscow’s Vnukovo worldwide airport.

Prior to a lethal Feb. 6 earthquake that killed 50,000 individuals in Turkey and Syria, Russia had been mediating talks between the 2 quake-hit international locations.

Turkey and Syria have been on reverse sides in Syria’s civil conflict for over a decade. Turkey continues to again armed opposition teams that management a northwestern enclave in northwestern Syria. In December, Moscow hosted shock talks between the Syrian and Turkish protection ministers.

Syria since final summer time has acknowledged the Russian-controlled Luhansk and Donetsk areas in jap Ukraine as unbiased and sovereign entities.

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The Syrian, Turkish and Russian deputy international ministers in addition to a senior adviser to their Iranian counterpart are additionally set to carry talks Wednesday and Thursday in Moscow to debate “counterterrorism efforts” in Syria.

Associated Press author Daria Litvinova contributed from Tallinn, Estonia.

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