ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in his first official visit to Moscow on Wednesday, with the pair highlighting the importance of normalizing bilateral ties and Moscow’s continued cooperation in Damascus’ oil sector, as well as discussing Russian military presence in Syria.

During the meeting, the two leaders highlighted the longstanding relations between Moscow and Damascus, with Sharaa asserting that his government is aiming to rebuild “relations with all regional and international countries,” while Putin stressed that Russia has never “put narrow interests or the current political situation in its calculations towards Syria,” according to Syrian state media.

Russia was one of the main backers of Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian civil war. The fall of Assad has been deemed a major setback for Moscow in the Middle East.

Kremlin announced a day after Assad’s ousting that Putin had personally granted asylum to Assad and his family. Russian state media reported that the asylum was granted on “humanitarian” grounds.

Sharaa also stated that “a significant part” of Syria’s energy sector relies on Russia, noting that Damascus respects all former economic agreements signed with Moscow.

“Russian companies have been operating in Syrian oil fields for a long time. There are fields that need development, others that have halted production, in addition to new fields, and we are ready to [contribute],” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told Russian media following the meeting.

Reports suggest that the meeting also involved talks regarding Russian military bases in Syrian territory.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, in a briefing on Wednesday, said that Moscow’s agenda with Damascus includes “issues surrounding our military presence in the Syrian Arab Republic,” including the possibility of “reformatting of the functionality of Russian military facilities.”

Russia has maintained a military presence in the Hmeimim air base in the province of Latakia, the port city of Tartus, and Qamishli airport in northeast Syria (Rojava).

Earlier in the day, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that “it is obvious that [the topic of Russian military bases] will be raised during the conversation in one way or another,” according to Russian state media (TASS).

Moscow had also expressed willingness to help with Syria’s post-war reconstruction.

“Syria needs to rebuild its infrastructure, and Russia is capable of providing support in this area," Novak noted, adding that Moscow is “ready to provide support and participate in the process of rebuilding Syria."

Sharaa took office as Syria’s president following the overturn of Assad’s Baathist regime in December 2024 by Syrian rebels, after a decade of civil war.

Throughout the conflict, Moscow was an ardent supporter of Assad and provided the president with necessary economic and military support to stay in power and counter Western sanctions on the country.