Putin's refuge for Bashar al-Assad in Moscow impacting Russian efforts to keep forces in Syria, says UK Vladimir Putin offering refuge to ex-Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad in Moscow is undermining Russia’s talks to keep its forces in the wartorn country, according to British defence chiefs.
Putin’s regime has since been in talks with Syria’s new administration led by HTS, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, to allow Russian forces to remain at the country’s Khmeimim Air Base in Syria’s Latakia province and the port of Tartus.
The US in January issued a six-month waiver to its Syria sanctions, focused on the energy sector and financial transfers to Syrian governing authorities, but kept sanctions in place on the central bank, keeping Syria cut off from the international financial system.
In its latest intelligence update, the Ministry of Defence in London said: “On 28 and 29 January 2025, Russian merchant vessels SPARTA II and SPARTA reportedly departed Tartus, Russia’s strategically important naval base in Syria.
Western sanctions on Syria’s banking sector are preventing critical investments in the war-ravaged economy despite huge interest from Syrian and foreign investors since the fall of Assad, the country’s investment chief said.
