Putin announces withdrawal of ‘main part’ of Russian forces from Syria
Vladimir Putin has ordered the withdrawal of the main part of Russian forces from Syria, as reported by TASS.
During a meeting at the Kremlin, Putin said that the pullout would start on Tuesday, March 15th.
"I believe that the tasks assigned to the Ministry of Defense, as a whole, were met. Therefore, I order to begin withdrawing the main part of our military factions of the Syrian Arab Republic starting tomorrow," Putin stated.
The comments come amid new peace talks in Geneva aimed at resolving the Syrian conflict.
Putin hopes that the beginning the withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria will be a good stimulus for the negotiation process.
"I hope that today's decision will be a good signal to all conflicting sides and hope that this significantly raises the confidence of all participants in the process," Putin said.
The Russian military bases in Tartus and Hmeymim will continue to operate as normal.
He added that the remaining part of the military will be engaged in monitoring the ceasefire.
The President’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said that Putin discussed the matter with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who agreed with the decision.
Amnesty International recently said that Russia is guilty of some of the most “egregious” war crimes it has seen in decades.
In particular, human rights groups argue that Russian aircraft have deliberately bombed civilian targets and members of rescue services in Syria.