Putin Uses Assad Visit To Talk Up Kremlin Role As Syria Broker

Vladimir Putin used a rare visit to Moscow by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to talk up the Kremlin's potential to help broker a political settlement to the crisis as he tried to show the West Russia has become a major player in the Middle East.

Assad flew to Moscow on Tuesday evening to thank Putin personally for his military support, in a surprise visit that Russian state media cast as a diplomatic coup.

It was Assad's first foreign visit since the start of the Syrian crisis in 2011, and came three weeks after Russia launched a campaign of air strikes against Islamist militants and rebels in Syria that has bolstered Assad's forces.

The Kremlin, which said it had invited Assad to visit Moscow, kept the visit quiet until Wednesday morning.

Putin told Assad he hoped progress on the military front would be followed by moves towards a political solution in Syria, bolstering Western hopes Moscow will use its increased influence to cajole Assad into talking to his opponents.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/21/us-mideast-crisis-assad-putin-idUSKCN0SF0I020151021