Russia’s Putin kicks off diplomatic drive to resolve Syrian conflict

Bloomberg

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a surprise meeting with his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, kicking off a diplomatic drive this week to outline the terms of an end to the Middle Eastern country’s bloody civil war. Putin said
he’ll speak by phone with US President Donald Trump later.
Putin has taken a dominant role in efforts to resolve the conflict after a two-year Russian military campaign helped Assad to fight off opponents. With IS nearly defeated in Syria, the Kremlin is moving on to bring together regional and global powers to revive long-stalled efforts to reach a settlement expected to cement the Syrian president in power.
Putin will meet the leaders of Iran and Turkey — key players in Syria which have joined Russia to back steps towards ending the war this year — on Wednesday to discuss the political resolution. “The most important question of course is what will happen after the defeat of the terrorists in terms of a peaceful political settlement,” Putin told Assad during their meeting in Sochi.
Expressing thanks for Russia’s role, Assad said the time is right for negotiations, “especially after we attained victory” over the government’s opponents. He added: “We’re counting on Russia’s support to ensure the non-intervention of outside players in the political process, so that their role is
to support the efforts of the Syrians themselves.”
Assad’s visit, which wasn’t publicly announced until the following day, echoed a similar trip to Russia that he made
in 2015 shortly after Putin launched his air and ground campaign in Syria.