“The task that was set before our defence ministry and armed forces has as a whole been completed and so I order the defence ministry to from tomorrow start the withdrawal of the main part of our military contingents” from Syria, Putin said.
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The Russian rouble weakened on Tuesday, falling with the oil price, but Russian stocks gained after President Vladimir Putin announced the withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria.
CIMARRON, Kan. (AP) – Officials say two of the people injured when a passenger train derailed in western Kans…
The Kremlin has used the base, which Putin said Russian Federation would keep along with a naval facility at Tartous, to mount a five-month campaign of air strikes to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an intervention that has tipped the balance of power in the Syrian leader’s favour.
Russian Federation has deployed more than 50 jets and helicopters to its Hemeimeem air base, in Syrias coastal province of Latakia, and they have operated at a frenetic pace, each flying several combat sorties on an average day.
Moscow did not indicate when the first planes are scheduled to leave.
“Technicians at the (Hmeimim) airbase have begun preparing aircraft for long-range flights to airbases in the Russian Federation”, the defence ministry said in a statement, adding that military equipment was being loaded onto the planes. “The move is likely to put pressure on Assad regime to negotiate more seriously at UN-hosted peace talks with the opposition, which resumed in Geneva on March 14, said an editorial titled Putin to Assad: Do svidaniya in Almonitor”. U.S. estimates of the number of Russian military personnel in Syria vary from 3,000 to 6,000.
With Russia’s main goals in Syria achieved, the pullback will allow Putin to pose as a peacemaker and help ease tensions with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member Turkey and the Gulf monarchies vexed by Moscow’s military action.
Mr Putin made the announcement after a meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The Kremlin said the president coordinated the move with Assad, who voiced his readiness to quickly launch a political process.. It rejected speculation that the decision reflected a rift between the allies and said the decision reflected the “successes” the two armies have achieved in fighting terrorism in Syria and restoring peace to key areas of the country.
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He added that the battle against militant groups is going to continue and that this would be a good time to “revisit” a 2013 proposal by the Group of Eight major industrial nations that Syria’s government and opposition “unite their forces to fight terrorists”.
