Russia Withdraws Troops from Syria

The Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the withdrawal of the main part of the Russian military group in Syria. The withdrawal should begin on Tuesday, March 15. Putin has ordered this to the Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu, according to RBC with reference to TASS.

Vladimir Putin has ordered the withdrawal of the main forces of the Russian Federation in Syria from 15 March. The Head of State said this at a meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

"I think that the task assigned to the Ministry of Defense as a whole has been performed. Therefore, I order from tomorrow to begin withdrawing the main part of our military units from the Syrian Arab Republic," Putin said.

According to the President, the basing points of the Russian armed forces in the port of Tartus and on the airbase Hmeymim "will operate as usual and they should be protected from land, sea and air."

Russia announced the beginning of military operations in Syria on September 30, 2015.

An airbase of the Russian Military Space Forces acts in the province of Latakia, from which air strikes on the Syrian territory were arranged in the past months. Moscow has repeatedly stated that the aims are only terrorists. Syrian human rights activists and Western leaders have argued that the blows fell both on civilians and rebels fighting against President Bashar Assad.

On March 14, a second round of peace talks on Syria was to start in Geneva, which was made possible by the cease-fire agreement that came into effect on 27 February.

At the meeting with Shoigu Putin expressed a hope that the beginning of the withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria will be a stimulus for the negotiation process. "I hope that today's decision will be a good signal to all parties to the conflict. I hope that this will significantly raise the confidence of all participants in the process," he said (quoted by TASS).    -0--