A long-awaited meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, began Wednesday (March 15th) in Moscow, as the Kremlin strives to reconcile Syria and Turkey.

At the beginning of the meeting, broadcast on Russian television, Vladimir Putin praised the "development" of relations between Moscow and Damascus and stressed that Russia continued to provide humanitarian aid to Syria after the earthquake that struck that country and neighboring Turkey last month.

These efforts come as diplomatic cards have been dramatically reshuffled in the Middle East with the Beijing-sponsored restoration of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

For the Kremlin, orchestrating a reconciliation between Turkey and Syria, blurred since 2011, would display Moscow's diplomatic weight despite its isolation in the West since its offensive in Ukraine.

The meeting between Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad began around 14 GMT, according to images broadcast on Russian television. Several ministers participated in this meeting, which will be followed by a tête-à-tête between the two leaders.

"We are in constant contact and our relations are developing," Putin said at the beginning of the meeting, hailing the "important results" achieved by Moscow and Damascus in the "fight against international terrorism".

For his part, Bashar al-Assad expressed his support for Moscow's military offensive in Ukraine and said he hoped his visit would mark "a new stage in Syrian-Russian relations".

But one of the main topics on the agenda of this meeting should be the reconciliation process between Ankara and Damascus that Moscow seeks to accelerate, including by organizing a summit with Bashar al-Assad and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"Relations between Turkey and Syria will certainly be affected in one way or another" by the talks between Putin and Assad, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.

Erdogan-Assad meeting?

Having come to power in the early 2000s, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar al-Assad first established cordial relations, after decades of tensions between their countries.

But after the start of the conflict in Syria, which since 2011 has left more than 500,000 dead and millions displaced, Ankara supported rebel groups seeking to topple the Syrian regime, backed by Moscow and Tehran.

Despite their divergent interests in Syria and Turkey's membership in NATO, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan have cooperated closely in recent years, which explains Moscow's role in the attempt at Turkish-Syrian reconciliation.

Diplomats from Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iran are due to meet this week in Moscow to prepare for a meeting between their foreign ministers ahead of a possible presidential summit.

At the end of December, the Turkish and Syrian defense ministers had already met in Moscow with their Russian counterpart, a first since 2011.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said in recent months that he is ready to meet Bashar al-Assad to seal the thaw in relations. "Resentment and resentment do not exist in politics," the Turkish leader said in November.

But thorny questions still need to be resolved, including the Turkish military presence in northern Syria, where Ankara has carried out several incursions since 2016, against jihadist and Kurdish groups.

A rapprochement could be fostered, however, by the double earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria in February, killing more than 50,000 people and helping Damascus emerge somewhat from its diplomatic isolation.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar al-Assad also share hostility towards the Kurdish groups that control northeastern Syria, and that the West has supported against the Islamic State group.

Damascus strongly denounced the visit in early March of the US Chief of Staff to the north-east held by Kurdish forces.

With AFP

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