Russian President Vladimir Putin announced late on Monday that he will begin withdrawing the "main part" of the Russian military ground forces in Syria beginning on Tuesday.
"With the participation of the Russian military ... the Syrian armed forces and patriotic Syrian forces have been able to achieve a fundamental turnaround in the fight against international terrorism and have taken the initiative in almost all respects. I am therefore ordering the defense minister, from tomorrow, to start the withdrawal of the main part of our military contingent from the Syrian Arab Republic," Putin explained at a meeting with top Kremlin officials.
"I hope that today's decision will be a good signal for all parties to the conflict," he said, "I hope that this will considerably increase the level of trust between all parties of the Syrian settlement and will contribute to a peaceful resolution of the Syrian issue."
Putin also said as Russia withdraws they will escalate their contribution to the peace negotiations which restarted on Monday. A development Putin claims, according to Reuters, is a direct result of successful Russian military action.
"The leaders noted that the action of the air force of Russia had radically changed the situation in the fight against terrorism disrupting the fighters' infrastructure and inflicting significant damage," read a Kremlin statement on the meeting.
The spokesman for the Kremlin Dmitry Peskov said the Russian President has called Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to inform him of this development.
However western diplomatic sources quoted by The Guardian are skeptical and cautioned that, "we will have to wait and see what this represents. It is Putin. He has announced similar concessions in the past and nothing materialized."
The Kremlin had deployed several warplanes and supporting personnel to western Syria and has given supporting airstrikes to military forces under the command of the Assad regime, enabling it to undertake offensives across several parts of the country against its armed opponents after months of maintaining a defensive posture.
Peace talks restarted in Geneva on Monday following the success of a Russian-US brokered ceasefire which went into effect last February 27 and has largely held to date.
"With the participation of the Russian military ... the Syrian armed forces and patriotic Syrian forces have been able to achieve a fundamental turnaround in the fight against international terrorism and have taken the initiative in almost all respects. I am therefore ordering the defense minister, from tomorrow, to start the withdrawal of the main part of our military contingent from the Syrian Arab Republic," Putin explained at a meeting with top Kremlin officials.
"I hope that today's decision will be a good signal for all parties to the conflict," he said, "I hope that this will considerably increase the level of trust between all parties of the Syrian settlement and will contribute to a peaceful resolution of the Syrian issue."
Putin also said as Russia withdraws they will escalate their contribution to the peace negotiations which restarted on Monday. A development Putin claims, according to Reuters, is a direct result of successful Russian military action.
"The leaders noted that the action of the air force of Russia had radically changed the situation in the fight against terrorism disrupting the fighters' infrastructure and inflicting significant damage," read a Kremlin statement on the meeting.
The spokesman for the Kremlin Dmitry Peskov said the Russian President has called Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to inform him of this development.
However western diplomatic sources quoted by The Guardian are skeptical and cautioned that, "we will have to wait and see what this represents. It is Putin. He has announced similar concessions in the past and nothing materialized."
The Kremlin had deployed several warplanes and supporting personnel to western Syria and has given supporting airstrikes to military forces under the command of the Assad regime, enabling it to undertake offensives across several parts of the country against its armed opponents after months of maintaining a defensive posture.
Peace talks restarted in Geneva on Monday following the success of a Russian-US brokered ceasefire which went into effect last February 27 and has largely held to date.
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