Putin calls on international community to think about rebuilding Syria
The international community should already be thinking about rebuilding Syria after the war, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the opening of the Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Saint Petersburg.
“I think that the international community should already think about the post-war restoration of the state, about how, in what formats and what quantities to assist it and other countries in the region, how to promote more effectively their socio-economic development and enhance state institutes, including the legislative branches of the government,” Putin said.
Putin noted that such tasks are “also worth discussing at the parliamentary and inter-parliamentary level”.
He drew attention to the fact that in Astana, agreements were achieved to create four de-escalation zones in Syria. According to the Russian president, “they will create the conditions for moving towards the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2254 on the basis of direct dialogue between the government and the opposition, and also for uniting efforts in the interests of the fastest possible elimination of the terrorist center, establishing peace and preserving the unity of Syria”.
Putin said that he is convinced that in the modern world “there are not and cannot be standardized, formulaic models of development – each state has a natural and indisputable right to determine its own fate, as is laid down in the UN Charter”.
On August 26, 2015, Syria and Russia made an agreement to deploy an aviation group of the Russian Armed Forces in Syrian territory. According to the agreement, at the Syrian government’s request, the aviation group would be deployed in the Syrian Arab Republic’s territory indefinitely, and the Khmeimim airbase would be transferred to Russia free of charge. All of the weaponry, ammunition, equipment and materials would be brought into Syrian territory without import duties, tax, or inspection of any kind. The personnel of the aviation group would be given diplomatic status.
Between August and September 2015, reports came out that the military contingent at the 720th logistical support point of the Russian Navy would be enlarged, including the dispatch of a significant amount of military equipment and personnel, and that the use of Russian forces in Syria might be sanctioned by the Federation Council – even if the US declined the offer to unite forces. Russia’s leadership denied that they were planning such a request. According to Reuters, a secret visit of Qasem Soleimani, a general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who is under UN sanctions, to Moscow, and his negotiations with the Russian leadership, played an important role in Russia’s decision to get involved in the Syrian conflict. According to Bloomberg, Russia’s military actions in Syria were initiated by Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, and Head of Presidential Administration Sergey Ivanov. The Russian government began to consider the possibility of interfering in the Syrian civil war in August 2015.
Acting in accordance with the Agreement “on Friendship and Collaboration between the USSR and the Syrian Arab Republic” from October 8, 1980, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sent Russia an official request for military aid. On this basis, on September 30, 2015, the Federation Council gave Putin consent to use the Russian Armed Forces in Syrian territory. This only concerned the use of the air force to support the Syrian ground forces from the air, without carrying out a ground operation.