Syria's Assad Flies to Russia for Talks with Putin

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18 May 2018 09:42 WIB

Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during their meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia May 17, 2018. President Bashar al-Assad flew to Russian leader Vladimir Putin's summer residence on the Black Sea for talks on Thursday about the Syrian conflict, the Kremlin said, a visit that underscored Moscow's status as Assad's chief backer. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

18 Mei 2018 00:00 WIB

Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during their meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia May 17, 2018. Since fighting broke out in his country in 2011, Assad has travelled only rarely, but has made three publicly-acknowledged visits to Russia, each time for meetings with Putin. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

18 Mei 2018 00:00 WIB

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, listens to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during their meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Thursday, May 17, 2018. A transcript of Thursday's meeting released by the Kremlin quoted Assad as saying that Syria is making progress in fighting "terrorism," which "opens the door to the political process." Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

18 Mei 2018 00:00 WIB

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia May 17, 2018. Russia's entry into the conflict in 2015 turned the tide of the conflict in Assad's favour, and established Russia as a powerbroker in the Middle East. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

18 Mei 2018 00:00 WIB

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, listens to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during their meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Thursday, May 17, 2018. At the meeting, in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Assad congratulated Putin on his new term as president, after he was re-elected in March, and thanked the Russian military for its support in Syria. Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

18 Mei 2018 00:00 WIB

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during their meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia May 17, 2018. "Stability is improving, and all that opens the doors to the political process, which we started a while ago," Assad told Putin, according to a transcript of the opening remarks from the meeting posted on the Kremlin website. "I have always said, and I repeat it again, that we have always wholeheartedly supported the political process, which should proceed in parallel with the war on terrorism." Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

18 Mei 2018 00:00 WIB