Russia in talks on 'reformatting' its military sites in Syria: What to know
Moscow signals it wants to maintain its presence in Syria, where President Ahmed al-Sharaa recently said that Russian bases will be converted into training centers.
Russia said on Wednesday that it is in talks with Syria on possibly restructuring its military facilities in the country, raising questions about the future of the Russian presence there.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters that the Kremlin has been discussing its military presence with the government in Damascus, saying the conversations have entailed the “possible reformatting” of its bases.
“Within the framework of contacts with Syrian partners, the issue of Russia's military presence in Syria is also being discussed, including in the context of a possible reformatting of the functionality of Russian military facilities,” she said in response to a question about Russia’s bases.
Russia maintains an air base in Hmeimim and a naval base in Tartus, both located in the country’s western Mediterranean coastal region. The Hmeimim facility was built in 2015 at the start of Russia’s military intervention in the Syrian civil war on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad, while the base in Tartus dates to the Soviet era and serves as a key outpost for Moscow in the eastern Mediterranean. Russia withdrew from its base in northeast Syria in January.
