Russian President Vladimir Putin and the new Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa exchanged views on the situation in the country, the Kremlin press service reported, referring to the content of the telephone conversation between the heads of state.
“The parties held a substantive exchange of views on the current situation in Syria,” the statement said.
“The Russian side emphasized its principled position of supporting the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian state,” the press service said.
According to the statement, in this context, the parties “underlined the importance of implementing a number of measures in the interests of establishing a sustainable normalization of relations in the country, activating inter-Syrian dialogue with the participation of all leading political forces and ethno-confessional groups of the population.”
Armed opposition units in Syria launched a large-scale offensive against government troops in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib in late November 2024. On December 8, they entered Damascus, while President Bashar al-Assad resigned and fled the country.
On December 10, Mohammed al-Bashir, who led the so-called Syrian Salvation Government in Idlib province, announced his appointment as head of the interim government of Syria, stating that the transitional period would last until March 1, 2025.
The leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (banned in Russia) Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, became the de facto new leader of Syria.
The conversation marked the first official high-level contact between Russia and Syria since the change of government in Damascus.
