DAMASCUS — Syria’s new leaders said Wednesday they had discussed “transitional justice” with the first Russian official delegation to visit Damascus since the toppling of long-term Moscow ally Bashar al-Assad.
The visit came with Russia keen to secure the fate of two military bases in Syria and after Russian President Vladimir Putin denied that Moscow had suffered a strategic “defeat” in the Middle East following Assad’s ouster.
“The new administration… stressed that restoring relations must address past mistakes, respect the will of the Syrian people and serve their interests,” Syria’s new government said in a statement.
The talks aimed to deliver “justice for the victims of the brutal war waged by the Assad regime”, it added.
The Russian delegation included deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov, who is also Putin’s special envoy on the Middle East and Africa, as well as Alexander Lavrentyev, the president’s special envoy on Syria, Russia’s RIA Novosti agency reported Tuesday.
It said it was “the first visit by Russian officials to Damascus” since Assad fled in December in the face of a lightning rebel advance across the country.
Moscow was one of Assad’s key backers, intervening in Syria’s civil war in 2015 in his favour.
Assad and his family fled to Russia after being overthrown by Turkish-backed rebels formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda.
Russia is now seeking to secure the fate of its naval base in Tartus and its air base at Khmeimim , both on Syria’s Mediterranean coast and Moscow’s only military outposts outside the former Soviet Union, with the new Syrian authorities.
A report by RT Arabic, a Russian state-controlled channel, said the delegation would meet Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and other officials.
Sharaa leads an Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham [HTS] that is banned in Russia as a “terrorist” organisation.
The organisation is rooted in Al-Qaeda’s Syria branch but has more recently adopted a more moderate tone.
RT Arabic reported that Bogdanov described the visit as aimed at strengthening historic ties based on shared interests, and underlined Russia’s hopes for Syrian unity and independence.
