Russian Presidency, June 29th 2015
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/49781

Vladimir Putin met at the Kremlin with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem, with whom he discussed, in particular, the situation in Syria and combating international terrorism.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Minister, friends, good afternoon. It is a great pleasure to see you.

I know that our two countries’ foreign ministries are keeping up regular contact between our countries. We know the difficult situation in Syria and how it is developing, particularly as concerns the attacks by international terrorism.

We realise that in circumstances such as these, success always comes hand-in-hand with problems too, and military defeats are also possible. But we are confident that the Syrian people will ultimately be victorious and we remain committed to our policy of supporting Syria, its government and its people. At the same time, we think that we can only fight terrorism and extremist radicalism effectively if all countries in the region unite their efforts.

Russia has very good relations with all countries in the region without exception, and our contacts with these countries show that all of them are ready to make their contribution to fighting the evil that is the Islamic State. This is true of Turkey, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

In this context, we call on all of our friends, including our friends in Syria, to do everything possible to establish constructive dialogue between all countries that want to fight terrorism and, of course, continue developing constructive relations with everyone who is already giving Syria their support today.

We know that misunderstandings, friction and temporary problems do frequently arise between neighbours, but it is certainly essential for everyone to unite their efforts for the sake of combating this common evil.

Please pass on my best wishes to President of Syria Bashar al-Assad.