Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday ordered the start of the withdrawal of Moscow’s forces from Syria in a shock move, as fresh peace talks began in Geneva.
But hopes for a breakthrough at the talks remained remote with both sides locked in a bitter dispute over the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the brutal conflict.
“The task that was set before our defence ministry and armed forces has as a whole been completed and so I order the defence ministry to from tomorrow start the withdrawal of the main part of our military contingents from the Syrian Arab Republic,” Putin told Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in televised comments.
The Kremlin announced that Putin had called Assad to inform Moscow’s long-standing ally of the shock move that appears to end the main part of its controversial bombing campaign that began in September.
“The leaders noted that the actions of the Russian air force allowed to radically change the situation in the fight against terrorism, to disorganise the fighters’ infrastructure and inflict significant damage on them,” the Kremlin said in a statement.