Two African states are frustrating Moscow's efforts to establish a stronger military presence in the continent following the fall of Assad.

For decades, Russia has been trying to rebuild its influence in the Middle East. But after the rapid collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, the Kremlin is scrambling to salvage whatever it can. President Vladimir V.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday reaffirmed his country's interest in maintaining its military bases in Syria even after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad. Discussions must be held with those forces that are now in control of the country,

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had not been defeated in Syria and that Moscow had made proposals to the new rulers in Damascus over Russia's military bases there. Putin said he had not yet met with Bashar al Assad but planned to meet him and said he would ask about the fate of missing U.

Russian President Vladimir Putin does not see the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad as a defeat for his country's military, which has been stationed there since 2015. "They want to pass off the events in Syria as a defeat for Russia.

In an hourlong televised meeting with his top military brass, Vladimir Putin left Syria unmentioned and made it clear that winning in Ukraine was his top priority.

When his Russian bosses and the mercenaries protecting them finally left, Homam Kasouha walked into the plant’s head office and did something he had yearned to do for years.

The rapid downfall of Syrian leader Bashar Assad has touched off a new round of delicate geopolitical maneuvering between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Vladimir Putin has lost his key anchor of influence in the Middle East with the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime, but he seemingly knew it was coming and was chatting with new players in the region ahead of his downfall.

The Russian president, in a marathon annual news conference, said that he had not yet met with Bashar al-Assad, the ousted Syrian leader who fled to Moscow, but that he planned to.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would enquire about the whereabouts of Austin Tice, the American journalist missing in Syria, while responding to a question from an NBC correspondent at his lengthy end-of-year press conference.

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to ask former Syrian President Assad for help in obtaining information on American journalist Austin Tice after he was taken prisoner 12 years ago.