Syria's President Ahmed al Sharaa will head to Moscow on Wednesday, where he is expected to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, a government official and a foreign ministry official said.
The scheduled visit "will include President Ahmed al Sharaa, the foreign minister, and military and economic officials", the official, who asked to remain anonymous as he was not allowed to brief the media, told AFP.
The official source added that al Sharaa is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and that the two sides will also discuss "economic issues related to investment, the status of Russian bases in Syria, and the issue of rearming the new Syrian military".
A foreign ministry official confirmed the visit and al Sharaa's meeting with Putin, noting that "economic and political issues and the status of Russian military bases in Syria are on the agenda".
Russian-Arab summit
Russia's naval base in Tartus and its air base at Hmeimim, both on Syria's Mediterranean coast, are Moscow's only official military outposts outside the former Soviet Union.
Al Sharaa was supposed to participate in a Russian-Arab summit to be held on Wednesday, but Moscow postponed it as many Arab leaders due to attend were involved in the implementation of the United States' ceasefire plan for Gaza, which went into effect on Friday.
Syria's new administration have sought peaceful relations with Russia despite the latter's former alliance with Assad.
In July, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al Shaibani was the first senior Syrian official of the new administration to visit Russia.
Arrest warrant
In January, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and a delegation made the first trip to Syria by Russian officials after the toppling of Assad.
In late September, Damascus investigating judge Tawfiq al-Ali issued an arrest warrant in absentia for Assad, in preparation for referring the case internationally through Interpol.
The day after Assad’s ouster last December, Russia announced it had granted him and his family “humanitarian asylum.”
Assad, who ruled Syria for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia in late 2024, ending the Baath Party’s decades-long grip on power that began in 1963. A new transitional administration led by Sharaa was formed in January.
