Russia Supports ‘Comprehensive Talks’ with US on Syria

FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands during their meeting in Ankara, Turkey September 16, 2019. Reuters
FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands during their meeting in Ankara, Turkey September 16, 2019. Reuters
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Russia Supports ‘Comprehensive Talks’ with US on Syria

FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands during their meeting in Ankara, Turkey September 16, 2019. Reuters
FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands during their meeting in Ankara, Turkey September 16, 2019. Reuters

Moscow confirmed on Wednesday willingness to hold “comprehensive talks” with Washington over the situation in Syria.

During a videoconference of the New York Council on Foreign Relations, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said his country is interested in working with the United States to improve agreements aimed at preventing dangerous military incidents, on the basis of experience gained in Syria.

“We reconfirm our interest to improve bilateral agreement with the US to avoid dangerous military activities and an arrangement on avoidance of dangerous military incidents. To prop on this Syrian experience would be right in this case as well," the Russian official said.

He said Moscow has more contentious and difficult issues “rather than interfaces for our common work with the US on Syria.”

"We will do our utmost to ensure that the US understands properly what we are doing, why we are doing these things or that things there, and we will expand the interfaces of our dialogue with the US if the US reciprocates, if the US wants so. We are ready, on our part,” Ryabkov explained.

On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed during a telephone conversation the latest developments in Syria’s Idlib province and the situation in Libya.

They emphasized the importance of bolstering efforts towards compliance with bilateral agreements on a ceasefire in Idlib, the Kremlin press service said.

“An emphasis was put on a need to boost efforts towards the implementation of the Russian-Turkish agreements on the Idlib de-escalation zone, including the Additional Protocol to the Sochi Memorandum of September 17, 2018," it said.

Separately, a pro-Syrian regime demonstration was organized in Suwaida province in rejection and condemnation of US sanctions and the unilateral coercive measures imposed on Syria, Syrian regime media reported.

The demonstration coincided with a protest staged by anti-regime activists who demanded the release of Raed al-Khatib, an activist who was arrested by Syrian regime forces on June 9 during a raid on an office in Engy tower in Suwaida city for taking part in an anti-regime protest.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday it fears that Khatib will be subjected to torture and ultimately classified as forcibly “disappeared” like approximately 85 percent of those detained by the regime.

It noted that about 130,000 Syrian citizens are still held in the Syrian regime’s detention centers, constituting a grave threat to their wellbeing given the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.



US Revokes Foreign Terrorist Designation for Syria's HTS

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a Ministerial formation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic, in Damascus, Syria March 29, 2025. (Reuters)
Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a Ministerial formation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic, in Damascus, Syria March 29, 2025. (Reuters)
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US Revokes Foreign Terrorist Designation for Syria's HTS

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a Ministerial formation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic, in Damascus, Syria March 29, 2025. (Reuters)
Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a Ministerial formation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic, in Damascus, Syria March 29, 2025. (Reuters)

President Donald Trump's administration on Monday revoked the foreign terrorist organization designation for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, as Washington moves to remove US sanctions on Syria to help the country rebuild following years of a civil war.

In December, opposition factions led by HTS ousted Syria's former president Bashar al-Assad in a lightning offensive. Then-HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa became Syria's president and said he wanted to build an inclusive and democratic Syria.

HTS was previously known as al-Nusra Front when it was al-Qaeda's Syria branch. It broke off ties with al-Qaeda in 2016.

In May, Sharaa met with Trump in Riyadh where, in a major policy shift, the Republican president unexpectedly announced he would lift US sanctions on Syria, prompting Washington to significantly ease its measures.

"This FTO revocation is an important step in fulfilling President Trump’s vision of a stable, unified, and peaceful Syria," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement, adding that the revocation will come into effect on Tuesday.

Last week, Trump signed an executive order terminating US sanctions program on Syria, a move that aims to end the country's isolation from the international financial system.

Syria's foreign ministry told Reuters that the lifting of sanctions on HTS was a "positive step toward correcting a course that previously hindered constructive engagement."

The written statement said Syria hoped the move would "contribute to the removal of remaining restrictions that continue to impact Syrian institutions and officials, and open the door to a rational, sovereign-based approach to international cooperation."

The ministry also said that Sharaa was planning to attend the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in September. The UN Security Council still has sanctions on both HTS and Sharaa himself, which require a Council decision to remove.