Russian Intelligence Chief Held ‘Constructive’ Meeting With Syrian Security Official

A Russian Su-24 aircaft on a runway at the Hmeimim airbase in Syria. © Maksim Blinov / Sputnik

Director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergey Naryshkin held a constructive meeting he held with a representative of Syria’s new security agencies, TASS reported on April 25.

“Last week, we held a conference on Afghanistan in Baku, attended by the leaders and high-level representatives of the Middle East and Greater Eurasia. A Syrian senior official was also present there. We held a quite constructive and friendly meeting with him,” Naryshkin told the Russian news agency.

The SVR director visited Baku on April 17 and 18 to participate in the conference titled Afghanistan: Regional Interconnectivity, Security and Development.

Since the fall of the regime of former president Bashar al-Assad last December, Russia has maintained a high level of communication with the country’s interim government.

To this day, Russian forces are still operating at two large facilities along the Syrian coast, the Tartus naval base and Khmeimim air base, in addition to Qamishli airport in the northeast of the country, which is de-facto controlled by Kurdish forces.

Early last March, thousands of civilians, mainly members of the Alawite religious minority, took shelter at Khmeimim following a government crackdown that left more than 1,600 dead. Still, no friction was reported between Russian forces there and government troops.

Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said last week that Moscow was still holding talks with the interim government.

“Our servicemen stayed where they were. We are talking to the current Syrian government,” he told reporters on April 19.

More recently, Syrian interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa said that Moscow had supplied the Syrian military for decades, implying that his country will not abandon its historic military ties with Russia.

“Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council. Syria’s weapons are entirely Russian. And there are many food and energy agreements that Syria has relied on for many years,” al-Shara told The New York Times in an interview published on April 23. “We must take these Syrian interests into consideration.”

Despite the positive atmosphere, the interim government is committed to an agreement guaranteeing the future of Russian bases in Syria.

The security of the bases was also put into question in recent weeks by a series of mysterious drone attacks, the last which took place late on April 24.

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