00:00Now, to be frank, I have not met President Assad yet after his arrival to Moscow,
00:12but I have such plans, I will speak to him for sure.
00:16You mentioned Syria.
00:20Well, you and those who pay your salary would like to present everything that's happening in Syria
00:28as a shortcoming or a defeat of Russia. I'd like to assure you that is not so,
00:34and I'll tell you why. We have come to Syria 10 years ago.
00:41So, in order to prevent the creation of a terroristic enclave, the likes of which we've
00:46seen in the other countries, for example, in Afghanistan, in general, we have achieved our goal.
00:52Even those groups that used to fight with the Assad regime, with the governmental forces,
00:59they have evolved as well. It is for a reason that today many European countries and the United
01:06States would like to establish relations with them. If they are a terrorist organization,
01:11how come you're trying to do that? Then that means that they have changed.
01:16That means that to a certain extent, our goal has been achieved. We did not have ground troops
01:24in Syria. They simply were not there. We have two military bases there, an air base and a naval base.
01:35The ground operation consisted of the troops of Syria itself and of some, and it's an open secret
01:44of certain pro-Iranian paramilitary forces. We have not returned the troops of the special
01:57operation forces. We have withdrawn them from there. But what was happening at the time?
02:02When the groups of armed opposition came close to Aleppo, Aleppo was defended by about 30,000 people,
02:11350 fighters entered the city. The governmental troops, as well as pro-so-called pro-Iranian units
02:21have left the city without fighting. They've blown up their positions and just left.
02:28The same happened with some exemptions. There were some hostilities there, but the same happened all
02:36around Syria. Previously, our Iranian friends used to ask us to provide transportation for their
02:44units in Syria. Now they've asked to withdraw their units. We have transported out 4,000 Iranian
02:52fighters to Tehran from Khmeimim base. Part of so-called pro-Iranian units left without fighting
03:01to Lebanon, part of them to Iraq. Today, the situation is quite complicated. If we're talking
03:13about Syria, we expect and hope that the peace and calm will come there. We have established
03:24relations with all groups that control the situation on the ground and with all countries
03:29in the region. The majority of them are telling us that they have an interest
03:34for our military bases in Syria to remain in place. We need to think about it
03:41because we need to decide for ourselves what will be our relations with those forces that
03:49are controlling the situation right now and who are going to control it in the future.
03:53Our interests should coincide. If we are to stay there, we must be doing something in the interest
03:58of the side who is doing there. What would be such interest? What could we do for them?
04:04This is a question that requires accurate and painstaking working through. But now,
04:10even now, we can do something using these bases as well. And we have proposed that to our partners
04:17and we have proposed that to our partners already, those partners who are on the territory of Syria
04:23and in the neighboring countries. We have proposed that we can use the air base of
04:28Khmeimim to deliver humanitarian aid to Syria. This was accepted with an understanding and with
04:36desire to organize this joint work. The same applies to the Tartus naval base.
04:44Whoever would like to present Russia is weakened. And as you are an American, I would like to
04:51remind you of a well-known writer and a person who said at a certain time,
04:58the rumors of my death are much exaggerated.
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