President Trump spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday after Syrian strongman Bashar Assad huddled with the Kremlin leader to discuss peace proposals for the war-torn country.
The White House said Putin and Trump talked on the phone, and Syria, Iran, North Korea and Ukraine were on the agenda, but did not offer details.
Administration officials also pointed out that the two leaders spoke last week at a summit in Vietnam during Trump’s tour of five Asian nations and agreed on a number of principles for Syria’s future.
Assad was pictured embracing Putin on Monday as they met at the Black Sea resort of Sochi in preparation for a summit between Russia, Turkey and Iran on Wednesday in Geneva where they will engage in talks to end the 6-year-old war in Syria as Moscow winds down its military presence.
The meeting between Assad and Putin was not announced and the Kremlin did not make it public until Tuesday.
“I passed to (Putin) and all Russian people our greetings and gratitude for all of the efforts that Russia made to save our country,” Assad told Russian officials, according to reports.
The trip was a rare occurrence for the Syrian despot, marking the second time he has left his country since the civil war began in March 2011.
Assad also traveled to Russia in October 2015 after Moscow launched military efforts to bolster the Assad regime’s forces.
More than 400,000 people have died in Syria and millions of refugees have spread across the Middle East and Europe because of the fighting.
Putin assured the leaders of Iran and Turkey “that Russia will work with Syrian leadership to prepare the groundwork for possible understandings” that could be reached Wednesday to “make sure” that agreements reached will be “viable,” Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said Tuesday.
He also said the two leaders have discussed Assad’s future in Syria if a peace agreement is reached. While many nations have called on Assad to step down, Russia has said the Syrian people should decide.
Putin during the meeting praised Assad’s efforts to repel Islamic State militants.
“Syria is striving in the fight against terrorist(s) … the Syrian people are going through very difficult trials and are gradually approaching the final, unavoidable rout of terrorists,” Putin said, according to Russian news agency Sputnik.
Assad signaled that the fight in Syria had moved from a military to a political solution.
“Huge successes have been achieved, both on the battlefield (and) on the political level. Many areas in Syria have been liberated from terrorist(s), and civilians who were forced to leave those areas have been able to return,” Assad said, according to state media. ”We must admit that the operation made it possible to advance the process of political settlement in Syria.”
Putin reiterated comments from March 2016 that Russia will be wrapping up operations in Syria.
“Regarding our joint operation to fight terrorists in Syria, this military operation is indeed coming to an end,” Putin said. “I’m pleased to see your willingness to work with everyone who wants peace and settlement.”
With Post wires
