Syria’s interim president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, travelled to Moscow for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, the first face-to-face contact the pair have had.
The meeting was especially notable considering Putin’s long-standing backing of Al-Sharaa’s predecessor, Bashar al-Assad, whose dictatorial regime was ousted by rebel forces in December.
After the toppling of the Assad dynasty, the former Syrian leader fled to Russia, where he and his family were granted asylum for “humanitarian reasons,” an official source in Russia told CNN at the time.
However, during his meeting with Al-Sharaa on Wednesday, Putin insisted that the two countries “have been exceptionally friendly” for more than 80 years, and that his country’s relationship with Syria has “never been tied to our political circumstances.”
“Throughout these decades, we have always been guided by one thing: the interests of the Syrian people,” he continued.
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