Moscow has achieved its goals in Syria.
This is what Russian President Vladimir Putin stated during his annual year-end press conference on December 19 after the collapse of dictator Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Commenting on the fall of the Syrian president's regime for the first time, Putin said Russia had taken over Syria to prevent the creation of a "terrorist enclave."
"All that is happening in Syria is not a loss for Russia," he added.
Moscow has been a key backer of Assad, deploying troops to the country since 2015 to support the dictator in the civil war. Russia is said to have lost at least hundreds of soldiers in that period, the Kiev Independent reported.
Syrian rebels announced on December 8 that they had successfully ousted Assad after a lightning offensive across the country. It culminated in the capture of the capital Damascus.
Moscow persuaded Assad to flee to Russia with his family after realising his regime was doomed to lose to the opposition's rapid advance, Bloomberg reported, citing its sources.
The Russian president told the news conference that he had not met with Assad since he arrived in Moscow.
Putin also claimed that most Syrian factions would welcome the continued presence of Russian military bases in the country, but said Moscow must first assess future relations with them.
"We maintain relationships with all the groups that control the situation there... The vast majority of them tell us they would be interested in our military bases remaining in Syria. I do not know. We need to think about that because we need to assess our relationship with those political forces that control the situation and will control the situation in the future," he noted.
Putin's statements contrast with multiple reports that Russian forces are preparing to withdraw from their bases in the Middle Eastern country. | BGNES
