Russia has refused to extradite former Syrian President Bashar Assad at the request of the countryʼs new government.
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa said this in an interview with the American newspaper The New York Times.
In January 2025, Syrian officials asked the Kremlin to extradite Assad as a condition for maintaining a military presence in Syria, but the Russian authorities refused, al-Sharaa said. His statement was the first public acknowledgement of Russiaʼs refusal, the newspaper noted.
However, despite this, the Syrian authorities are open to talks about future cooperation with Moscow. Al-Sharaa says that Damascus must “take into account Syrian interests” related to cooperation with Russia.
"Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Syriaʼs weapons are entirely Russian. And there are many agreements on food and energy supplies that Syria has relied on for many years," says the new Syrian president.
The Syrian president suggested that his country may need Russian support again. He said they "have not yet received any offers from other countries to replace Syrian weapons," which are mostly produced in Russia.
At the same time, he says that Syriaʼs new government has canceled military presence agreements with other countries signed during Assadʼs time and is "in the process of developing new agreements".
"Any new agreements must guarantee Syriaʼs independence, the stability of its security, and that the presence of any country does not pose a threat or danger to other countries through Syrian territory," al-Sharaa said.
The NYT believes that in this way he showed openness to purchasing additional weapons from Russia and other countries.
The overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria
On December 8, 2024, the Syrian opposition entered the Syrian capital, Damascus, and overthrew the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, who had been in power for 24 years. Assad himself fled to Moscow.
Syrian rebels formed a transitional government, led by Muhammad Bashir, who led the "Salvation Government" — a political structure created in 2017 in territories controlled by the Syrian opposition, primarily in the province of Idlib.
The leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group, Ahmad al-Sharaa, became the new president of Syria in January 2025. He has repeatedly stressed that the country is exhausted by war and poses no threat to either its neighbors or the West. He calls for the lifting of international sanctions on Syria, as they were imposed against the already overthrown regime of Bashar al-Assad.
- The Russian military bases in Syria are the naval port of Tartus and the airfield at Khmeimim. Thanks to them, Moscow has exerted influence in the Middle East and Africa. The loss of these facilities would be a strategic setback for it, as Russia continues to escalate with the United States and its European allies. In addition, the naval port of Tartus is Russiaʼs only port in the Mediterranean, and Khmeimim is a major supply base for the Kremlinʼs operations in many parts of Africa. Negotiations are ongoing between Russia and Syria to maintain a Russian military presence in the country.
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