Update: 18:15 January 29, 2025: US President Donald Trump claimed after the Star had gone to print that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to a “partial” ceasefire by which he would not authorise strikes on Kiev for the next week.
 

SYRIA’S interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has visited Moscow for the second time in less than four months for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who stressed his readiness to help rebuild the country’s war-battered economy.

“I know that there is a lot that’s necessary to restore in Syria and our economic operators, including the construction sector, are ready for this joint work,” Mr Putin said on Wednesday.

The talks are also believed to have considered the future of Russian military bases in the country.

Mr Sharaa, who first visited Russia in October, thanked Mr Putin for helping to stabilise Syria.

The former jihadist led a swift rebel offensive in December 2024 that overthrew then president Bashar al-Assad, who had received Moscow’s support in the civil war that began in 2011.

The Russian military has recently begun pulling out of a base in an area of north-eastern Syria still controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, despite the group losing most of its territory in a government offensive.

Mr Putin told Mr Sharaa that Moscow had always supported Syria’s integrity and hailed his regaining of control over the area as a “very important step.”