Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered his military to start the withdrawal of the main part of Russia’s forces from Syria, saying that the Russian military intervention had largely achieved its objectives.
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Asked if Putin discussed Assad’s political fate in Monday’s phone call with the Syrian leader, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it wasn’t part of the conversation.
Syria’s state news agency is quoting President Bashar Assad as saying that the Russian military will draw down its air force contingent from Syria but won’t leave the country altogether. Here & Now’s Robin Young gets the latest from NPR’s diplomatic correspondent Michele Kelemen.
Churkin says the decision to pull back was made “because we are in the political mode now, in cessation of hostilities mode, and our diplomacy has received the marching order to intensify our efforts to achieve a political settlement in Syria”.
Putin said his unexpected announcement would send a “good signal” to those involved in Syria’s peace talks, which reconvened Monday.
But the Russian leader signalled Moscow would keep a military presence: he did not give a deadline for the completion of the withdrawal and said Russian forces would stay on at the port of Tartous and at the Hmeymim airbase in Syria’s Latakia province.
The Russian- and U.S.-brokered cease-fire that began on February 27 has largely held, but both the Syrian government and its foes have accused one another of violations.
He said Russian Federation had pledged to continue support for Syria in “confronting terrorism”. The Kremlin said the president co-ordinated the move with Assad.
– November 14: After a first meeting on October 30, the big powers, including Russian Federation, the United States, France, and for the first time Iran meet in Vienna where they agree on a fixed calendar for Syria but remain sharply at odds over the future of Assad.
Assad has announced that parliamentary elections in Syria will go ahead next month according to schedule.
On Monday, as the election campaign officially kicked off, streets in the capital Damascus were festooned with electoral banners and posters of hundreds of government-approved candidates.
Angola’s U.N. Ambassador Ismael Gaspar Martins, who now holds the Security Council’s rotating presidency, said council members appealed to de Mistura to make the negotiations “more inclusive”, including adding Kurdish representatives, but do it moving forward so it won’t affect the “kind of progress that we’re seeing”. Speaking to reporters afterward, Ja’afari called the meeting “positive and constructive” and said the government delegation “submitted ideas and views” for a political solution to the crisis. He said the opposition will meet de Mistura on Tuesday, and his delegation would meet again on Wednesday.
Russian Federation began air strikes in September in support of the Syrian government, which has been fighting Syrian rebels and ISIS in a war that is now almost 5 years old. He was referring to opposition demands from the previous round including an end to bombardment, release of detainees and the lifting of the siege by government troops on rebel-held areas.
De Mistura said that “spoilers will try to upset the talks”, which he described as “a moment of truth”.
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The comments come the day peace talks resume in Geneva aimed at resolving the brutal four-year conflict which has killed approximately 250,000 people and displace millions more.
