Syria’s Sala tells Putin at Kremlin meeting he will respect all past agreements with Moscow

Authors: Vladimir Soldakin, Andrew Osborne and Suleiman AlKhalidi

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Syrian President Ahmed Sala told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that he would honor all past agreements between Syria and Moscow, a pledge that showed Moscow’s two main military bases in Syria were safe.

Sala was a former leader of Al Qaeda’s Syrian branch who overthrew his predecessor Bashar al-Assad, a close Russian ally, late last year. He spoke at the start of talks with Putin in the Kremlin, his first visit to Russia since taking power.

“Bilateral relations and common interests bind us to Russia, and we respect all agreements reached with Russia. We are working to redefine the nature of relations with Russia,” Sala told Putin in Arabic.

Putin told him that Moscow was ready to do everything it could to act on what he called “many interesting and useful beginnings” that the two sides had discussed in resuming relations.

The Kremlin chief also congratulated Shara on Syria’s parliamentary elections earlier this month.

“I believe this is a great success for you because it leads to the consolidation of society and will strengthen ties and cooperation between all political forces in Syria, despite the difficult times Syria is currently going through,” Putin said.

Russian military base

The Kremlin said ahead of the talks that the fate of Russia’s two main bases in Syria – the Khmeimim air base in Syria’s Latakia province and a naval facility in coastal Tartus – would be discussed.

Russia has economic and energy-related interests in Syria that it also wants to secure and maintains a military presence at the northeastern Qamishli airport near the Turkish-Iraqi border.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Moscow believed Damascus wanted to keep the military bases and had talked about the idea of ​​using them also as logistics hubs to deliver aid to Africa by sea and air.

Syrian sources said ahead of the talks that Syrian officials were seeking assurances that Russia would not help rearm Assad’s remaining forces. The same source said Sala wanted Russia to also help rebuild the Syrian army.

sensitive access

Sarah’s visit was a sensitive one. For years, Russia has used its military power to support Assad in his fight against Syrian rebels led by Shara in December. Moscow offered asylum to Assad and his family when they fled the country.

According to Russian media reports, the Assad family now lives a low-key life in Moscow.

Two Syrian sources told Reuters Shala would use the talks to formally ask Moscow to hand over Assad to face trial on charges of crimes against Syrians.

Russia, which prides itself on protecting its foreign allies, is unlikely to agree to handing Assad over to Damascus. Lavrov said on Monday that Russia offered Assad asylum because of threats to his life.

Salad wants economic concessions from Russia, including the restoration of wheat supplies on favorable terms and compensation for war losses, and is expected to press Moscow to support a boycott of Israeli demands for a wider demilitarized zone in southern Syria.

He may also raise the issue of the redeployment of Russian military police as a guarantor against further Israeli aggression, one of the two sources said.

The Kremlin said it did not expect Putin and Shalla to hold a news conference after the talks.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldakin and Andrew Osborne in Moscow; Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi, Ahmed Elimam and Tara Ramadan; Writing by Andrew Osborne; Editing by Mark Heinrich)