Putin on Assad’s fall: ‘What happened in Syria is not a defeat of Russia, we achieved our goal’

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday spoke about the situation in Syria for the first time saying that former President Bashar al-Assad’s fall has not impacted Russia and that Moscow has achieved its goals in the country.

“You want to present what is happening in Syria as a defeat for Russia,” Putin said at his annual end-of-year press conference.

“I assure you it is not,” he said, responding to a question from an American journalist.

Assad fled to Russia after a rebel takeover became inevitable in Syria following the circling of the capital city of Damascus. Moscow was Assad’s key backer and had swept to his aid in 2015, turning the tide of the conflict.

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“We came to Syria 10 years ago so that a terrorist enclave would not be created there like in Afghanistan. On the whole, we have achieved our goal,” Putin said.

The president said that although Assad continues to live in Russia, Putin has yet to meet him but plans on doing so “soon”.

“I haven’t yet seen President Assad since his arrival in Moscow but I plan to, I will definitely speak with him,” he said.

Putin was addressing the situation in Syria publicly for the first time since Assad’s fall.

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Since the HTS and other rebel groups’ takeover, Russia has been busy securing its two military bases in Syria. The Tartus Naval Base and Hmeimim Air Base are Russia’s only military outposts outside the former Soviet Union and have been key to the Kremlin’s activities in Africa and the Middle East.

Putin said there was support for Russia keeping hold of the bases.

“We maintain contacts with all those who control the situation there, with all the countries of the region. An overwhelming majority of them say they are interested in our military bases staying there,” Putin said.

He also said Russia had evacuated 4,000 Iranian soldiers from the country at the request of Tehran.

With inputs from AFP