Assad, Putin meet to discuss military campaign
Syrian president travels to Moscow in first trip abroad since 2011; leaders discuss fight against 'terrorist groups' and continuation of Russia's military campaign in Syria.
Syrian President Bashar Assad made a surprise visit to Moscow on Tuesday evening to thank Russia's President Vladimir Putin for launching air strikes against Islamist militants in Syria.
The Kremlin made the details of the visit public a day later, on Wednesday. It did not say whether the Syrian leader was still in Moscow or had returned home.
The visit is believed to be Assad's first foreign trip since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in 2011 and comes three weeks after Russia launched a campaign of air strikes against Islamist militants in Syria on Sept. 30.
"First of all I wanted to express my huge gratitude to the whole leadership of the Russian Federation for the help they are giving Syria," Assad told Putin, according to a Kremlin transcript.
"If it was not for your actions and your decisions the terrorism which is spreading in the region would have swallowed up a much greater area and spread over an even greater area."
Putin hailed the Syrian people for standing up to the militants "almost on their own," saying the Syrian army had notched up serious battle field success in recent times.
"Thank you for standing up for the unity of Syria, and its independence," he said. "Those political steps that have been taken by the Russian Federation since the start of the crisis have not allowed events in Syria to develop following a tragic scenario."
Putin said that positive developments on the military front in Syria would provide a basis for a long-term political solution, involving all political forces, ethnic and religious groups.
"We are ready to make our contribution not only in the course of military actions in the fight against terrorism, but during the political process. This will, of course, be in close contact with other world powers and with countries of the region which are interested in a peaceful resolution of the conflict," Putin said, according to the transcript.
