Russia agrees to ‘closer cooperation’ in fight against terrorism with Syria, Turkiye

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attends annual special televised question-and-answer session and year-end news conference scheduled to take place at the Gostiny Dvor trade and exhibition centre in Russia, Moscow on December 14, 2023. [Sefa Karacan – Anadolu Agency]

Russian President Vladimir Putin held separate calls with his Turkish and Syrian counterparts, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar Al-Assad, on Saturday, promising “closer cooperation” in the fight against terrorism in the wake of the deadly concert attack in Moscow, according to a Kremlin statement.

The statement noted that Erdogan offered his “deep and heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the victims and stressed the urgent need for closer bilateral cooperation in the fight against the terrorist threat.”

In a conversation with Putin, Al-Assad expressed his “wishes for patience and peace for the families and friends of the victims,” and they agreed to “intensify communications to address the fight against terrorism,” according to the Kremlin.

Russia is the most powerful foreign power operating in Syria, and Putin has long been allied with Al-Assad, throwing the weight of the Russian military behind his Syrian counterpart.

Read: Arab countries condemn Moscow attack, declare solidarity with Russia

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.