Putin made the unannounced stop in Syria on his way to meet the leaders of Egypt and Turkey on Monday, according to a Kremlin statement. He was met by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu at the Khmeimin airbase, where Putin told troops they were returning home as “victors” in the fight against terrorism, the Interfax news service reported.
The tour of the base marked Putin’s first visit to Syria since he ordered Russian forces to intervene in support of Assad against rebel groups in 2015. The civil war that erupted in 2011 has killed 400,000 people and caused millions of others to flee their homes.
Putin makes surprise visit to Russian Syria base, orders pullout
11 December 2017
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President Vladimir Putin flew to Russia’s airbase in Syria and issued an order to begin withdrawing most of his forces from the war-torn country as he met with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, AzVision.az reports citing the Bloomberg.
