The Presidents of Russia and Syria, Vladimir Putin and Bashar Assad, held talks in Moscow on Tuesday evening, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"The President of the Syrian Arab Republic Bashar Assad arrived in Moscow on a working visit yesterday evening," TASS cited Peskov as saying.
Peskov noted that they held one-on-one talks and then with the participation of Russia’s top officials. "The talks were rather lengthy and the issues discussed are quite clear," Putin's press secretary added.
"The questions were about the fight against terrorist extremist groups and questions regarding the continuation of supporting the offensive actions of the Syrian armed forces. President Putin was informed in detail of the state of affairs in Syria and plans for the future, as well as various aspects of bilateral relations," Peskov explained.
Assad also expressed his gratitude to the Russian authorities and people for their help in the fight against terrorism. "First of all, I would like to express enormous gratitude to the whole leadership of the Russian Federation and to the Russian people for the help they are giving Syria. Thank you for standing up for the unity of Syria, and its independence," Interfax cited Assad as saying.
Assad stressed that those political steps that have been taken by the Russian Federation have not allowed events in Syria to develop following a tragic scenario, the terrorists would spread over an even greater area.
He also pointed out that terrorism is an obstacle to a political solution to the conflict and expressed hope that terrorism will be defeated.
The editor-in-chief of 'National Defense' magazine, Igor Korotchenko, told a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza that one can hardly talk about some secret talks between Putin and Assad, because this format is absolutely natural for such circumstances.
"There is no secrecy about it. There are closed questions, which are not made public, this is absolutely normal, based on the fact that quite a difficult situation has developed in Syria," he noted.
"It is obvious that the complex of issues related to the military operations against IS, development of political dialogue between the moderate opposition and the Damascus authorities, and, of course, Russia's role in this process were discussed," the expert said.
Korotchenko also commented on the probable route of Bashar al-Assad's visit. "The route was such as to ensure a secure and safe return visit to Damascus" the editor-in-chief of 'National Defense' magazine stressed.
The expert also expressed confidence that the Russian military operation in Syria will continue according to the agreed plan. "Nothing can change, as everything goes according to plan," he concluded.
A military observer of the TASS news agency, retired Colonel Viktor Litovkin, in his turn, said that Bashar al-Assad's visit to Moscow took place in secrecy, since it was probably a condition of the Syrian side. The expert suggested that his route to the Russian capital was over Iraq, Iran and the Caspian Sea.
Viktor Litovkin noted that we shouldn't expect anything fundamentally new from its results. "I think that this operation had been planned before the visit of Assad to Moscow. So they could discuss some other political issues," he explained.
According to Litovkin, the personal meeting between Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad is connected with the fact that it is always better to talk in person than on the phone. "A telephone conversation can be intercepted, but it is much more complicated to do it during a face-to-face meeting," the military observer of the TASS news agency concluded.
