Assad and Putin Moscow meeting
© Reuters/Alexei Druzhinin/RIA Novosti/Kremlin
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, October 20, 2015.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar Assad have held talks in Moscow on Tuesday. Assad informed the Russian leader about the situation in Syria and the plans of government forces.

"Yesterday evening Syrian President Bashar Assad arrived in Moscow for a working visit," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday. "President [Putin] was informed in detail by his Syrian counterpart about the current state of affairs in Syria and the long-range plan."

The two leaders conducted lengthy negotiations, which then continued in the presence of Russia's top policymakers.

Putin and Assad Moscow meeting
© Alexei Druzhinin / RIA Novosti President Vladimir Putin (3R) and President of Syria Bashar al-Assad (2L) at a meeting at the Kremlin. From right: Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Vladimir Putin said that the Syrian people have been confronting terrorists "practically single-handedly" for years, withstanding considerable casualties. Lately, they have achieved serious and positive results in this fight, he added.

The terrorists' attempts to destabilize the situation in the Middle East arouse deep concern in Russia because "unfortunately, people from the former Soviet republics, at least 4,000 of them, are fighting against the Syrian army," the Russian leader said. "Naturally, we cannot allow them to appear on Russian territory with all the combat experience and ideological brainwashing they have gone through."


Syria is a country friendly to Russia, and Moscow is ready not only to assist with fighting terrorism, but also in reaching a peaceful political settlement to the Syrian conflict in cooperation with other global and regional powers, Putin said.