Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa landed in Moscow on January 28 as the Kremlin seeks to secure the future of its Syrian military bases in the country and shore up relations with the new regime.

It's the second meeting between Sharaa and Putin at the Kremlin since the former swept to power in December 2024 after ousting Russian ally Bashar al-Assad.

Syria's new regime marked the first anniversary of Bashar al-Assad's overthrow on December 7-8. The Arab Republic, governed by the Assad dynasty for over half a century, collapsed just 11 days after armed opposition forces led by Al-Qaeda-adjacent Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched their offensive. The former president fled to Moscow via Abu Dhabi, whilst Ahmed al-Sharaa declared himself the country's new leader within hours of the former dictator's departure.

Relations have cooled and need to be re-established, but al-Sharaa is being wooed by Putin with offers of economic, military and financial aid, all of which is badly needed as the government tries to rebuild a country shattered by decades of repression and civil war.

At the same time amid the deteriorating security situation in northeast Syria where the government is battling occupying Kurdish forces the situation remains unstable. The recent rapid advancement in Kurdish-controlled areas by government forces’ saw the Kremlin pull back from its military base this week as a fresh outbreak of major hostilities looms.

One bone in the relationship is that Assad fled to Moscow where he now lives in comfort, reported spending a lot of his time playing video games. al-Sharaa has demanded his extradition back to Syria to face charges, but the Kremlin has so far refused.

The meeting got off to a friendly start when al-Sharaa thanked Putin for supporting Syria and said Russia had played a “historic” role in maintaining the “stability of the region,” at a joint press conference.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the future of the Russian military base at Tartous was on the agenda, which Moscow has built up into a major military port that is the basis of its renewed military power in the Mediterranean. Russia maintains the Khmeimim airbase which has been used as an important staging post for Russia’s military presence in Africa. These two bases are now Russia’s only military presence outside of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries.

Earlier this week, Russia reportedly withdrew its forces from the Qamishli airport in Kurdish-held northeastern Syria, as Kurdish and government forces clashed, al Jazeera reports. A Syrian foreign ministry source told Reuters the move by Moscow was interpreted in Damascus as a gesture aimed at building goodwill and signalling that Russia would not be drawn into fighting between Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces as al-Sharaa attempts to assert central authority over the entire country.

In televised opening remarks at the Moscow meeting, Putin told al-Sharaa: "I want to congratulate you on the fact that the process of restoring the territorial integrity of Syria is gaining momentum."

Russian ties in Syria go back to the Cold War when the Soviet Union provided extensive military and economic aid to the Baathist regime in Damascus, led first by Hafez al-Assad and then his son Bashar.

Russia was invited into Syria by Assad to support him in a civil war where al-Sharaa was a rebel leader fighting against the Russian troops. However, since Assad’s sudden departure, al-Sharaa has been careful not to alienate Putin, although he has continued to keep the Kremlin at arm’s length.

Al-Sharaa can't afford to ignore Moscow completely, which has invested heavily in the region and has good relations with nearly all of the gulf states including mutual adversaries like Israel and Iran. That has given Putin the useful role of “honest broker” in a region fraught by rivalries.

Al-Sharaa played down Russia’s role in Syria’s war and looked forward by striking a friendlier tone during his first visit to Moscow last October.

The new regime is attempting to build a multi-vector foreign policy of relations with all countries at once in a strategy that has become common amongst countries surrounded by the geopolitical rivals. Not only has Al-Sharaa visited Moscow, he has also been to the US to meet with US President Donald Trump and establish working relations with America as well.

Al-Shaara has also been wooing neighbours from Turkey to Qatar. Syrian authorities organised the first Syrian-Saudi investment forum in Damascus, where 44 deals worth $6bn were concluded. That same month, Syria signed an agreement with Dubai Ports World worth $800bn to modernise Syrian port infrastructure and logistics services. In August, Damascus also signed investment memoranda with companies from Qatar, the UAE, Italy and Turkey totalling $14bn, followed by a separate package of energy deals between Syria and Saudi Arabia.

The World Bank estimates the country's economic damage from years of civil war at $216bn — ten times the country's nominal GDP. Of this, $75bn will be required to restore housing stock alone.

Tensions with the US are now possible, which has been backing the Kurds, which until recently controlled the oil rich regions in the northwest of the country, which were being exploited by US companies. Earlier the White House warned the government not to attack the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces but later that same month helped broker a fragile truce to stop the fighting. However, observers worry the ceasefire is close to breaking down and hostilities may resume again soon.

The government is trying to take back control of the whole country and regain its authority over the Kurdish enclave that has been effectively operating as a state within the state until recently. In a significant move, the government granted Kurds language rights in January, but at the same time declared areas west of the Euphrates River controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces a military zone and tightened its control.

On the economic front, Syria's new currency entered circulation on January 1, removing two zeros from the Syrian pound in a redenomination aimed at restoring control over monetary policy. Previously, Syria had little control over monetary policy in areas under rebel control in the northwest, especially Idlib province, and parts of northern Aleppo, which used multiple currencies, including the Turkish lira and US dollar.

Syria's new authorities cannot yet boast of economic recovery. Al-Sharaa inherited from Assad a country in ruins with destroyed state institutions. According to UN data, 90% of Syria's population lives in poverty, with the majority relying on international humanitarian aid. Electricity is still supplied for an average of just two hours per day, and over 2mn Syrians live in tents (before the war began in 2011, Syria's population exceeded 20mn). The problem is compounded by Syria's lack of territorial and economic unity.