Russian delegation backs Syria's 'integrity, sovereignty' in first trip

MOSCOW: A high-level Russian delegation in Syria expressed support for the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity following the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Moscow’s foreign ministry said Wednesday.

The former Syrian president, a key Russian ally in the Middle East, fled to Moscow last year after being ousted in a lightning rebel offensive that ended five decades of rule by the Assad family.

Russia sent its first high-level delegation to the war-torn country on Tuesday, with Moscow keen to retain two military bases in Syria.

“The Russian side reaffirmed its unwavering support for the unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

It said the visit came at a “crunch point” in Russia-Syria relations, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it an “important trip”.

“It is necessary to build and maintain a permanent dialogue with the Syrian authorities, which is what we will continue to do,” Peskov told reporters.

The delegation was led by deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov, who is also Putin’s special envoy on the Middle East and Africa, and met with Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Russia’s naval base in Tartus and its air base at Hmeimim — both on Syria’s Mediterranean coast — are Moscow’s only military outposts outside the former Soviet Union.

It used the air base extensively after intervening in the Syrian civil war on Assad’s side in 2015.