Putin to welcome Syria’s Ahmed al-Sharaa to Moscow

President Vladimir V. Putin was set to welcome President Ahmed al-Sharaa of Syria in Moscow on Wednesday, as the two leaders seek to establish a new relationship more than a year after the fall of the Russia-backed Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, the Kremlin said. Mr. al-Sharaa’s trip is his second to Russia since he seized power in late 2024, sweeping across the country into Damascus and forcing Mr.

al-Assad to flee into what the report described as a gilded exile in Russia. The new Syrian leader, a onetime Qaeda fighter turned rebel commander and statesman, has taken a pragmatic approach to Moscow despite years on the battlefield under Russian airstrikes. He has asked Russia to aid Syria’s reconstruction and has said that Mr.

al-Assad must be brought to justice. The Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov told reporters that Mr. Putin would welcome Mr. al-Sharaa for negotiations, noting that relations between Moscow and Damascus had been developing since the fall of the previous Syrian government. Mr. Peskov declined to comment on whether the extradition of Mr.

al-Assad back to Syria would be discussed. Footage posted online showed Mr. al-Sharaa descending the steps of his airplane in Moscow in the snow. At stake for the Kremlin is the fate of Russia’s military footprint in Syria, which has included the Hmeimim Air Base, a naval base at Tartus and an air base at Qamishli.

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