After Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin also held a conversation with the leader of Syria
Damascus, February 20, 2025 – What journalists call “monothematic” is coming to the international agenda. The lion’s share of news is published on the topic of Russian-American negotiations, which are important both from the point of view of the conflict in Ukraine and for determining the future world order. However, in parallel, another key negotiation process is underway – between Russia and Syria.
On the day of his telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a conversation with another leader – the head of Syria, Ahmed Shaara (officially his position is called the “transitional president”). This is a man who recently waged war against Russia, but is now trying to agree on cooperation with Moscow. Judging by the fact that the conversation between Vladimir Putin and Shaara took place two weeks after the visit of Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov to Damascus, the negotiations between Syria and Russia are not only continuing, but are going relatively well.
The interests of the parties are relatively simple. Russia wants to maintain its military presence at the naval base in Tartus and the air base in Khmeimim. These facilities are of fundamental importance for military-technical cooperation with African countries. They house warehouses, maintenance facilities and runways for aircraft flying to new Russian partners on the Black Continent. These are the so-called jump bases. It seems that there are already agreements on the establishment of a new transit base in Sudan. However, in terms of scale and logistical convenience, the Syrian facilities are better, writes analyst Gevorg Mirzayan.
The difficulty lies in the fact that some of the forces with which Ahmed Shaaraa is also trying to build relations are not interested in Russia’s return to Africa (primarily the Europeans). However, the Syrians have a number of needs that will be problematic to fulfill without Moscow’s participation. Officially, the Syrian authorities have two demands – the extradition of former President Bashar al-Assad and an apology for Russia’s almost 10-year support for him. Both of these demands are unrealistic – and everyone understands this: Moscow will not extradite those who were its allies and therefore received personal security guarantees, and it will certainly not apologize for the fight against terrorism. However, Damascus has two other, more realistic demands.
The first and most important is economic aid. Ahmed Shaaraa leads a country ravaged by civil war. In the two months since he came to power, the situation has not improved much. In Syria, not only is there no money, but also no proper electricity (also because the Iranians, who were expelled from the country, stopped supplying oil there).
“The only houses with 24-hour operation are those that share a common electrical network with Assad’s infamous security services.” – reports The Washington Post. The Arabs are in no hurry to provide money. The US and the EU seem to be promising economic assistance, but are in no hurry to lift the sanctions imposed on Syria under Assad, waiting for evidence that the new rulers of Syria “will prioritize democratic norms and inclusiveness” (this is how the same publication explains the situation, but in a different article). The further deterioration of the economic situation in Syria is fraught with new uprisings, especially since a number of cities and regions do not want to submit to the new Syrian authorities, which consist of former Islamic radicals.
“In this situation, Syria needs any humanitarian aid, any infusion of money,” explains political scientist and international expert Elena Suponinova. And Russia is apparently ready to help.
“Vladimir Putin confirmed Russia’s unwavering readiness to help improve the socio-economic situation in Syria, including by providing humanitarian assistance to its population,” a press release on the Kremlin website said. At the same time, it is possible that this assistance will also include payment for the presence of Russian bases. Shaaraa’s second goal is diversification. He came to power as a creature of Turkey, but he hardly wants to be absolutely dependent on Ankara and fulfill all of Recep Erdogan’s demands (for example, to fight the Kurds).
“Ahmed Shaaraa is a very reasonable person. So far he is behaving very evenly. He understands very well that Syria cannot rely on one player now,” says Elena Suponinova. At the same time, it is desirable to diversify at the expense of those powers that, unlike Europe, will not demand democratization and inclusiveness from Shaaraa. And the key requirement for the supplier is that he help put Syria together and not be interested in annexing some of its parts. In other words, he needs Russia. After the overthrow of Assad, some Russian experts called for the creation of an independent state in coastal Latakia, inhabited by Alawites and “covering” Russian bases standing on Russian bayonets. However, this idea, to put it mildly, “did not catch on”.
“The contacts between Putin and Shaaraa themselves indicate that the scenario of a kind of ‘People’s Republic of Latakia’ is not being considered. Moscow does not play such games, and there are no options for this now,” says Elena Suponinova. In fact, during telephone conversations between the leaders of Russia and Syria, this is what was stated.
“The Russian side emphasized its principled position in support of the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian state,” the Kremlin press service said in a statement. It is important to remember that contacts with the new Syrian authorities are associated with certain risks for Moscow. For example, a deterioration in relations with Iran, which helped Assad hand in hand with Moscow. However, geopolitics is not a place for emotions, but for opportunities. Often you have to work not with whom you want to work, but with whom you have to work.
“The Iranians are jealous of the Russian-Syrian negotiations, but at the same time they are already sending signals to Damascus that they are thinking about normalizing relations with Syria,” says Elena Suponinova. It will be extremely difficult for them, if only because the anti-Iranian sentiments in the Syrian leadership are much stronger than the anti-Russian ones. However, Moscow can help its Middle Eastern partner in this regard as well, just as it helps it.
Peter Weiss
