Since 2015, Russia has maintained a substantial military presence in Syria to support the government of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“There are no final decisions on the issue so far,” Peskov told reporters. “We are in contact with the representatives of the forces that are in control of the situation in the country. Everything will be determined through dialogue.”
Moscow, which granted asylum to Assad and his family, operates the Hmeimim Air Base in Syria’s northeastern Latakia Province and a naval base near the city of Tartus.
Assad’s sudden departure, and the political void left by the collapse of his government, has cast uncertainty on the fate of Russia’s presence in Syria—both military and diplomatic.
On Dec. 15, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying that some of its diplomatic personnel in Damascus had left for Moscow aboard a “special flight” from the Hmeimim base.
‘Constructive’ Talks With HTS
Last week, Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Bogdanov said that Russian officials had held talks in Damascus with members of the political wing of HTS.“Representatives from our embassy have met with [HTS] to discuss various issues,” Bogdanov, who also serves as the Kremlin’s special envoy for the Middle East and Africa, told reporters on Dec. 12.
Chief among these issues, he said, was “ensuring security of foreign diplomatic missions ... certainly including the Russian Embassy [in Damascus].”
Bogdanov described the discussions with HTS as constructive.
An ideological offshoot of ISIS and Al-Qaeda, HTS is viewed as a terrorist group by all countries involved in the years-long Syrian conflict, including both Russia and the United States.
On Dec. 15, the Financial Times, citing an HTS official, reported that Russia—in coordination with the terrorist group—had evacuated at least 400 soldiers from Damascus.
Kamal Lababidi, a member of the HTS political wing, told the newspaper that departing Russian troops had been stationed in the capital’s Qudsayya district.
He also said an indeterminate number of Russian troops, previously stationed at Moscow’s embassy in Damascus, had left the capital in recent days.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Lababidi said that Russian officials had met with HTS in Damascus to negotiate the safe passage of Russian personnel from the capital to the Hmeimim airbase.
Russian personnel, Lababidi said, had traveled by land to the Russian base, from where they returned to Moscow by plane.
He said Russia was not currently evacuating the base but was withdrawing personnel from other positions in Syria, according to the Financial Times.
In previous statements, Russia has said that its continued presence in Syria would depend on negotiations with the incoming government in Damascus.
