Putin Offered Help To Syria's New Leader, Whom He Promised To "destroy" 10 Years Ago
- 28.01.2026, 20:20
After Assad was toppled, the Russian dictator dramatically changed his tone.
Russia would like to develop economic cooperation with Syria and is ready to participate in the reconstruction of the country after almost 15 years of war. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said this at a meeting with Syria's new president Ahmed al-Shaara in the Kremlin, The Moscow Times reported.
Since 1944, when Moscow and Damascus signed an agreement on diplomatic relations, Russia and Syria "have never had any dark pages at the interstate level," Putin said. He added that bilateral relations are now "actively developing" and projects in industry, medicine and sports have been outlined.
"I know that a great deal will need to be rebuilt in Syria, and our economic operators, including those in the construction sector, are ready for this joint work," Putin was quoted as saying by the Kremlin press service.
Al-Shaara was previously known as al-Julani and headed the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, one of al-Qaeda's offshoots). The group's militants seized power in Syria in December 2024 after former dictator Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow. In 2016, the Kremlin, through the Russian Foreign Ministry, called the group and its leader "mutilators" and promised to "destroy" them.
An official statement from the ministry said that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham "remains an illegal terrorist organization that has no other goal but to create a so-called Islamic caliphate by brutal and barbaric methods, and the consistent fight against these mutilators will continue with the support of the international community until their complete destruction." In 2020, the group was recognized as a terrorist group in Russia and banned. In 2017, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that al-Joulani had his arm torn off during one of the Russian air force strikes.
In talks with al-Shaara, the second in the past six months, Putin is expected to agree on preserving Russian bases in Syria, which have been threatened since the fall of the Assad regime. Last week, Syrian authorities demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Kamyshly base in the Syrian Kurdish capital, which has served as a key outpost for controlling the northeast of the country and a logistical hub for the transfer of forces since 2019.
According to Reuters, equipment and heavy weapons are now being moved from Kamyshly to Russia's Hmeimim airbase in the west of the country. Some of the contingent is expected to return to Russia.