DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Russia announced Wednesday that Syria’s foreign minister will visit Moscow, the first official visit to Russia by an official in the new government in Damascus since former Syrian President Bashar Assad was ousted in a rebel offensive last year.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told the state news agency Tass that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will host his Syrian counterpart, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani, for talks in Moscow on Thursday. The two will discuss bilateral ties, as well as “international and regional issues,” the statement said.
There was no statement from Syria on the visit.
Assad was an ally of Russia, and Moscow’s scorched-earth intervention in support of him a decade ago turned the tide of Syria’s civil war, helping to keep Assad in his seat for years. However, when insurgent groups launched a new offensive last year, Russia did not intervene again to save Assad.
Instead, Assad took refuge in Russia after his ouster. The former president later claimed in a statement posted on Facebook that he had wanted to stay in the country and continue fighting but that the Russians had pulled him out.
He said that he left Damascus for Russia’s Hmeimim air base in the coastal province of Latakia on the morning of Dec. 8, hours after insurgents stormed the capital. He hadn’t planned to flee, but the Russians evacuated him to Russia after the base came under attack.
Despite having been on opposite sides of the battle lines during the civil war, the new rulers in Damascus, headed by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, have taken a pragmatic approach to relations with Moscow.
A Russian delegation visited Damascus in January, and the following month, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had a call with al-Sharaa that the Kremlin described as “constructive and business-like.” Some Russian forces have remained on the Syrian coast, and Russia has reportedly sent oil shipments to Syria.
Al-Sharaa publicly thanked Russia for its “strong position in rejecting Israeli strikes and repeated violations of Syrian sovereignty” after Israel intervened in clashes between Syrian government forces and armed groups from the Druze religious minority earlier this month.
