Vladimir Putin held talks with Bashar al-Assad in the Kremlin

Putin also pointed to Assad's efforts to rebuild the country and establish a dialogue with political opponents.

"I am very glad to welcome you to Moscow again. And first of all, I would like to congratulate you on your recent birthday... And, of course, already in a personal format - with a very good result of the presidential elections", - the Kremlin website quotes the president's words.

Putin will remind that "by our joint efforts" the main, overwhelming territory of Syria was liberated.

“The terrorists have suffered very serious, significant damage, and the Syrian government, headed by you, controls 90% of the territory”, - Putin said.

He noted that the main problem in Syria is the presence of foreign weapons without UN permission. This, Putin is sure, is contrary to international law and does not give Assad the opportunity to "make maximum efforts to consolidate the country" and restore it at a faster pace. According to the Russian leader, during the first six months of 2021, the volume of trade between the two countries increased 3.5 times, and the first deliveries of vaccines from Sputnik V and Sputnik Light covid arrived in Syria.

For his part, Assad said that the political processes that were taking place in Syria stopped about three years ago, and "certain states are destructively affecting the possibility of political processes".

Let us remind that Assad got the opportunity to be elected to the presidency for the last time, he won the elections, receiving 95.1% of the votes. However, a number of countries - the United States, England, France, Italy, Germany and Turkey - campaigned not to participate in these elections, since they "will not be free or fair".