Bashar al-Assad has thanked Vladimir Putin for his military support in the Syrian crisis, praising the Russian leader for intervening to fight “terrorism” in one of the most dramatic turning points of the four-and-a-half-year war.
The surprise meeting between the two presidents in Moscow, which took place on Tuesday evening but was not announced by the Kremlin until Wednesday, was followed by the announcement of imminent talks between Russia, the US, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
It was Assad’s first foreign visit since the uprising against his authoritarian rule broke out at the height of the Arab spring in 2011. Since then 250,000 people have died and millions have been displaced.
The US government issued a stern rebuke to Moscow for hosting the Syrian president. “We view the red carpet welcome for Assad, who has used chemical weapons against his own people, at odds with the stated goal by the Russians for a political transition in Syria,” said White House spokesman Eric Schultz.
The Russian military intervention in Syria began three weeks ago with airstrikes against opposition groups inching closer to Assad’s strongholds in the west of Syria.
Putin ordered airstrikes against Islamic State, but most Russian attacks have targeted other rebel groups fighting Assad.
According to a Kremlin transcript, Assad told the Russian president: “First of all I wanted to express my huge gratitude to the whole leadership of the Russian federation for the help they are giving Syria.
“If it was not for your actions and your decisions, the terrorism which is spreading in the region would have swallowed up a much greater area and spread over an even greater area.”
Putin hailed the Syrian people for standing up to the militants “almost on their own” and claimed the Syrian army had notched up major battlefield victories of late.
Also present at the meeting in the Kremlin were Russia’s foreign and defence ministers, as well as the head of the security council and of the foreign intelligence service.
Assad’s first official state visit since the revolution began hints at growing confidence in his camp that the Russian intervention may reverse or at least stall a series of military setbacks and defeats over the past nine months, with rebels having seized significant territory in the provinces of Idlib and Hama and beat back regime offensives in Aleppo and Daraa.
Isis seized key territory in Homs this summer, including the historic city of Palmyra.
Russian intervention has primarily targeted rebel groups, including those backed by regional and western states, with a minority of airstrikes hitting Isis. The regime has opened several fronts against the rebels, backed by Russian airstrikes, hoping to take back territory in Homs, Hama, Aleppo and Latakia.
Syrian state TV said the two presidents discussed the continuing military operations in Syria against “terrorist” groups – a catch-all term that the regime and Moscow use to refer to the rebels fighting to overthrow Assad – as well as plans for ground campaigns.
Putin was quoted as saying he would assist on the military and political fronts in Syria and would contact other foreign powers in an effort to reach a settlement to the crisis.
The Russian president is due to speak to an audience of foreign politicians and Russia-watchers in Sochi on Thursday. Since addressing the UN general assembly last month in a call for the world to come together to fight terrorism, he has been keen to emphasise that Russia must be part of the solution in Syria.
“Putin wants to be seen talking to Assad,” said Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, on the sidelines of the Sochi conference. “He is the only channel through which we’re likely to get Assad on board to any kind of transition and this impression will be reinforced by this meeting.”
The Russian foreign ministry later announced later that the foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the US secretary of state, John Kerry, had agreed to meet in Vienna on Friday with their counterparts from Saudi Arabia and Turkey to discuss the Syria crisis. The Saudis and Turks are key backers of anti-Assad rebel groups.
That constitutes one of the broadest encounters yet held to discuss the Syrian war – although it conspicuously excludes Iran, which along with Russia is a key supporter of Assad. The Saudis and Iranians are deeply hostile to each other and unlikely to agree to discuss Syria with each other.
“The US, Saudis and Turks will want to see what Russia will put on the table,” said Julien Barnes-Dacey of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “But I think it will be one of those occasions when everyone goes hoping that the other side will back down. I am sceptical that it will lead to an opening.”