Senior Russian delegation travels to Syria to meet President Bachar Al-Asad
A senior Russian delegation headed by Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov arrived in the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday evening to hold talks with top Syrian officials, according to state news agency SANA. Borisov and the accompanying delegation were received at Damascus International Airport by Assistant Foreign and Expatriates Minister Ayman Sousan and a number of officials in addition to the Russian Ambassador in Damascus Alexander Efimov.
Bilateral and economic talks with Syrian officials will take place this Monday with the aim of completing the discussions of the Syrian- Russian Joint Committee in the fields of trade, economic, technical and scientific cooperation. The components of this committee are politically and militarily responsible and the aim of the visit is to discuss options for pacifying the country and ending the last strongholds of the war. This meeting is also a sign of Russia's support for the Al-Asad regime.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will also take part in the meeting, according to diplomatic sources informed the daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat. This diplomat has a very complete view of the Syrian conflict and aims to implement Resolution 2254 in all the details related to the constitutional amendment, the political transition process and the preparation of elections. Lavror has stated that this new visit is very different from all the previous ones. Russia has now decided to support Syria economically so that it can carry out a political transition and put an end to the armed conflict. The delegation will meet President Bachar al-Asad and prominent Syrian officials during the visit, which, according to Syrian sources, could be brief and last only a few hours.
Russia was one of Bachar al-Asad's great supporters during the civil war in Syria. Since September 30, 2015, it has actively intervened in the conflict. Russia's military action was the first abroad since the end of the Cold War. Russia has been a historical ally of the Arab country and before the military intervention it already had a naval base in Tartus and Latakia.
Russia's main aim has been to support Bachar al-Asad's Syrian allied government against the opposition of various armed groups, including the Islamic state, the Syrian National Coalition and the Al-Nusra Front, considered the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda and the Syrian Kurdistan forces among many others. The civil war in Syria broke out in 2011 following a series of strong anti-government protests. At first it was a conflict between the country's armed forces and the Syrian opposition, but the contest was complicated by the intervention of different international players such as Russia and Turkey.