Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met in Moscow yesterday, according to an account on the Kremlin website. Besides reaffirming their joint commitment to eradicating terrorism in the area and reestablishing Syria’s sovereignty over its entire territory, Putin honed in on the continuing U.S. military presence in the country.
“By working together, we have liberated most of the territory of the Syrian Republic, dealing the terrorists a heavy, damaging blow. The Syrian government now controls 90% of the country’s territory. I believe that the main problem lies in the presence in some parts of the country of foreign armed forces without any mandate from the United Nations or your permission, which clearly runs counter to international law and undermines your ability to use your best efforts to consolidate the country and promote recovery at a pace that would have been possible, if the legitimate government controlled the entire country.”
Assad took aim at the continuing genocidal sanctions being imposed against Syria. “The political processes that we carried out have been in a state of stagnation for the past three years…. Some countries have imposed sanctions on the Syrian people, and these measures are clearly inhumane, directed against the state and are illegitimate. Despite all this, these sanctions are still in force.”
