On the day that marks the 12th anniversary of the beginning of armed violence in Syria, the Syrian president, Bashar al Assad, meets his Russian colleague, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow.
The rais of Damascus arrived in the Russian capital yesterday evening and this morning, as reported by the Syrian government agency Sana, he went to the tomb of the unknown soldier in Moscow before being received by Putin.
Russia is a close strategic ally of Syria, an alliance that dates back to the days of the Soviet Union.
Assad, reports the Interfax agency, has expressed his support for the "special military operation" with which Russian troops have invaded Ukraine, while Putin told the Syrian president that "we, as true friends, are trying to support you" after the catastrophic earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria in February.
In the context of the Syrian conflict, which has escalated over the past 12 years following the outbreak of government repression of popular anti-regime protests in March 2011, Russia intervened militarily in Syria in October 2015. Assad's visit in Moscow he will focus, according to analysts, on the theme of the thaw, mediated by Russia, between the Syrian and Turkish central governments after a decade of open hostility.