Russian President Vladimir Putin will talk with Syria’s leader Bashar al-Assad in Moscow on Wednesday.
“Topical issues of further development of Russian-Syrian cooperation in the political, trade, economic and humanitarian spheres, as well as prospects for a comprehensive settlement of the situation in and around Syria, will be discussed,” the Kremlin said in a statement on Tuesday.
Assad’s office said he had arrived in Moscow for an official visit during which he would meet with Putin.
In a statement, it said that the Syrian president had been greeted on arrival by Putin’s special representative, Mikhail Bogdanov and the Russian ambassador to Damascus, Alexander Yefimov.
A “large ministerial delegation accompanied Assad”, said the Syrian presidency statement.
Damascus, a staunch ally of Moscow, intervened in the Syrian conflict in 2015 by launching air strikes to support the government’s struggling forces.
The Syrian civil war has killed around half a million people and displaced millions more since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. (AFP)
