Putin meets Assad in Moscow amid calls to defuse Turkey-Syria tensions

President Vladimir Putin held talks with Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad in Moscow amid calls for Russian mediation to cool tensions between Turkey and Syria.

Wednesday’s talks between the pair — the first since since March 2023 — come after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan flagged the potential of a three-way meeting to discuss normalising ties between Ankara and Damascus.

Putin highlighted his concerns over the situation in the Middle East, which he said was “tending to escalate,” in opening remarks between the pair which were aired on state television Thursday.

“I am very interested in your opinion on how the situation in the region as a whole is developing. Unfortunately, it is tending to escalate, we see this. This concerns Syria directly,” Putin said.

Assad said his visit to Moscow was a “very important” opportunity to discuss “events that are taking place today in the world as a whole and in the Eurasian region”, according to a translation into Russian.

“The Russian and Syrian presidents discussed the situation in the Middle East, including the possibility of holding a meeting between Assad and Erdogan” , The Kremlin said .