Putin, Assad pave way for decisions to be taken by Russian, Iranian, Turkish leaders - Kremlin

SOCHI, November 21. /TASS/. At their Sochi meeting, Russian and Syrian Presidents Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad paved the way for decisions that may be taken at the impending meeting between the Russian, Iranian and Turkish leaders on Wednesday. "In the process of coordinating the meeting between the Russian, Iranian and Turkish state leaders that will be held tomorrow, Putin assured his interlocutors that our side will carry out corresponding work with the Syrian administration to pave the way for understanding that may be reached tomorrow in Sochi in order to make sure that such agreements that may be reached tomorrow will be viable and won’t be brought to a halt," Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "In order to fulfil these pledges, Putin met with his Syrian counterpart in Sochi," he added. According to Peskov, Bashar al-Assad stated at the previous meeting that the operation conducted by the Russian Aerospace Force that helped save Syria and laid the foundation for future political settlement is almost complete. "Putin put him right a little bit, saying that relapses are possible and they will occur anyway," the Kremlin spokesman added. "However, they cannot reverse the progress of the operation conducted by the Syrian Armed Forces with the support of the Russian Aerospace Force." "Assad said that the return process for refugees - Syrians of various nationalities and confessions who fled from their homes due to military operations - has started. They started returning," Peskov noted. "This is also the fact that both Syrians and Russia are satisfied with." Read more