Russian Presidents Vladimir Putin and Syrian Bashar al-Assad held talks in Sochi yesterday, the Kremlin's Acting Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said upon completion of the meeting.
"The talks were quite detailed," Peskov said. "President [Putin] pointed out the Syrian Armed Forces' considerable achievements in struggle with terrorist units and congratulated Assad on this occasion."
"The two presidents pointed out the importance of setting up more conditions that would facilitate the resumption of a full-fledged political process and they also noted success of the Astana process, as well as of the Congress of the Syrian People, which had been held in Sochi," Peskov said. "Today's talks focused on further joint steps."
Assad assured Putin that Damascus enthusiastically supports a political process in the republic with a parallel fight against terrorism.
"Stability is growing, and all this opens the door to a political process that we started some time ago. I have always said, and I want to reiterate that we have always enthusiastically supported a political process that should proceed hand-in-hand with fight against terrorism," the Syrian leader said.
