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Russia’s deputy foreign minister and a special envoy arrived in Damascus. Theirs was the first such visit since President Bashar al-Assad fled the country, according to Russian state news.
By Paul Sonne
A first Russian delegation arrived in Damascus on Tuesday for the first time from the government cave of Bashar al-Assad last month as Russia seeks to negotiate the lengthy execution of its army bases in Syria with the country’s new leadership.
Among the diplomats to arrive in the Syrian capital on Tuesday were Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, who oversees Middle Eastern affairs, and the special presidential envoy to Syria, Aleksandr Lavrentiev, the Russian state news agency TASS reported.
The Syrian rebels who toppled Mr. al-Assad last month fought for years against government forces backed by Russia, but their interim leader has suggested he wants to continue Syria’s relationship with Moscow, given the historical linkages and overlapping geopolitical interests.
Ahmed al-Shara, the leader of the rebel coalition who overthrew Mr. Al-Assad, called Russia “a vital country” in an interview with Saudi state television to Arabiya last month. He said he didn’t need Russia to leave Syria “the way other people need. “
“We need Russia to leave Syria in a way that compromises her relations with our country,” said Al-Shara, what Syria depended on Russia for all her weapons and handle many of her strength plants.
M. Al-shara’s Islamist organization, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has been labeled a terrorist organization through Russia and the United States. But leaders in Moscow and the West reached out to him, amid a broader race for geopolitical influence in postwar Syria.
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