Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa will visit Russia on Wednesday to meet with President Vladimir Putin, Syria’s state news agency reports, as part of a broader diplomatic push to bolster the Damascus transitional government’s international legitimacy.
It will be al-Sharaa’s first official visit to Moscow, a longtime ally of the former Bashar al-Assad regime that al-Sharaa’s forces ousted in December.
During the visit, al-Sharaa and Putin will discuss “regional and international developments” and “ways to strengthen cooperation”, Syria’s SANA news agency reported on Tuesday, citing the presidential media directorate. Al-Sharaa will also meet with members of the Syrian community living in Russia, the report said.
The Reuters news agency cited a Syrian official as saying that al-Sharaa will hold talks on the continued presence of Russia’s naval base in Tartous and its air base in Khmeimim. The source added that al-Sharaa also plans to formally request that Moscow hand over al-Assad, who has been living in exile with his family in Moscow since fleeing Syria in December.
Al-Sharaa, who once headed the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda under the name Abu Mohammed al-Julani, commanded rebel forces that seized Damascus and installed a new government late last year, ending al-Assad’s decades-long rule.
Since then, Russia has sought to build ties with Syria’s new leadership, including offering Damascus diplomatic support over Israeli strikes on Syrian territory.
SANA reported that Putin called al-Sharaa in February, expressing support for Syria’s “unity, sovereignty and stability”. In July, Putin and his minister of foreign affairs, Sergey Lavrov, met with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani in Moscow.
The Syrian president’s visit to Moscow follows his September trip to New York, where he addressed the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), declaring that Syria was “reclaiming its rightful place among the nations of the world” and urging for an end to sanctions.
Syria is “writing a new chapter in its story, titled peace, stability, and prosperity”, he told the UNGA.
