Syria’s interim President, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has held his first talks with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow since ousting Russia’s ally Bashar al-Assad 10 months ago.<\/p>\n
Sharaa suggested he would continue to allow Russia access to its military bases in Syria.<\/p>\n
He was also expected to ask for the extradition of Assad, who was granted asylum after fleeing to Moscow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
For years they were enemies, on opposing sides of a bloody civil war.<\/p>\n
Putin used brutal military force to prop up Bashar al-Assad. And Sharaa’s armed Islamist group led the rebel offensive that eventually forced Assad from power.<\/p>\n
But on Wednesday, the Russian and Syrian leaders sat down together for the first time, putting pragmatism ahead of past enmity.<\/p>\n
“Over the past decades, our countries have built a special relationship,” Putin said.<\/p>\n
He added that there were “quite a few interesting and useful undertakings” on the agenda of their talks, and that Russia stood ready to “do everything to fulfil them”.<\/p>\n
Sharaa said he wanted Syria to re-establish its relations with all countries, but “chiefly with Russia”.<\/p>\n
“We are trying to restore and redefine in a new way the nature of these relations so there is independence for Syria, sovereign Syria, and also its territorial unity and integrity and its security stability.”<\/p>\n
They were warm words from two men seeking a good working relationship.<\/p>\n
Russia wants continued access to its Tartous naval port and Hmeimim military airbase on Syria’s Mediterranean coast.<\/p>\n
Sharaa suggested he would allow this, saying Syria would “respect all agreements concluded throughout the great history” of their bilateral relations.<\/p>\n
In turn, he wants help to consolidate his power in Syria, secure its borders and rescue a parlous economy with access to Russian energy and investment.<\/p>\n
Russian ministers said they were ready to deliver foodstuffs and medication to Syria, and to help repair damaged power and transport infrastructure.<\/p>\n
But amid the smiles, tensions remain.<\/p>\n
Syrian sources said Sharaa would ask for Assad to be extradited so the exiled leader could face trial for war crimes. It is thought unlikely Russia would agree.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters that Russia had granted asylum to Assad because he and his family had “faced the risk of physical elimination”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Syria’s interim President, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has held his first talks with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":76769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[4235,3171,2702,739,738,5330,1208,13],"class_list":["post-76768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-stories","tag-assads","tag-fall","tag-meets","tag-moscow","tag-putin","tag-sharaa","tag-syrias","tag-time"],"yoast_head":"\n
Syria's Sharaa meets Putin in Moscow for first time since Assad's fall - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c201p2dd6r4o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Syria's Sharaa meets Putin in Moscow for first time since Assad's fall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c201p2dd6r4o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gulf Times | News by the minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-15T19:08:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/37e51a30-a9ed-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.avif\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Syria's Sharaa meets Putin in Moscow for first time since Assad's fall - Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c201p2dd6r4o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Syria's Sharaa meets Putin in Moscow for first time since Assad's fall","og_description":"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site","og_url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c201p2dd6r4o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss","og_site_name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","article_published_time":"2025-10-15T19:08:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/37e51a30-a9ed-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.avif","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"gulftimes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_site":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"gulftimes","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c201p2dd6r4o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=76768"},"author":{"name":"gulftimes","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977"},"headline":"Syria’s Sharaa meets Putin in Moscow for first time since Assad’s fall","datePublished":"2025-10-15T19:08:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=76768"},"wordCount":394,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c201p2dd6r4o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/37e51a30-a9ed-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.avif","keywords":["Assads","fall","meets","Moscow","Putin","Sharaa","Syrias","time"],"articleSection":["Top Stories"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c201p2dd6r4o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=76768","url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c201p2dd6r4o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss","name":"Syria's Sharaa meets Putin in Moscow for first time since Assad's fall - Gulf Times | News by the minute","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c201p2dd6r4o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c201p2dd6r4o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/37e51a30-a9ed-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.avif","datePublished":"2025-10-15T19:08:00+00:00","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c201p2dd6r4o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c201p2dd6r4o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c201p2dd6r4o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/37e51a30-a9ed-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/37e51a30-a9ed-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.avif","width":1024,"height":576},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c201p2dd6r4o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Syria’s Sharaa meets Putin in Moscow for first time since Assad’s fall"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Largest News Aggregator in the Gulf","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Gulf News Aggregator","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization","name":"Gulf Times","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"Gulf Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","https:\/\/x.com\/Gulftimesuae"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977","name":"gulftimes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"gulftimes"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/gulftimes.ae"],"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/76769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}