Syria Today | Russian president makes historic visit to Syria

Russian president makes historic visit to Syria

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made a historic visit to Damascus on May 10 and 11, urging the US to play a more active role in pushing forward the Middle East peace process.

Medvedev's two-day visit was the first by a Moscow leader since the 1917 Bolchevik revolution. In a joint press conference with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Medvedev warned that the Middle East peace process was deteriorating.

"A further heating up of the situation in the Middle East is fraught with explosion and catastrophe," he said, stressing the need for a "more active American position".

Medvedev's visit was made as renewed US-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians ran into difficulties over Israeli settlement expansion in East Jerusalem. It also came at a time when Syrian-Israeli indirect negotiations, via Turkish mediation, remain stalled.

Speaking at the press conference, Assad said that "incentives" granted by "superpowers" to Israel encourage it to evade the requirements of peace.

"So far we have not seen the moment when the US administration will engage in the talks in earnest and will do everything for their resumption and advancement," Assad said.

Russia is a member of the quartet of Middle East peacemakers and the only one not to shun contact with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. During his visit to Damascus, Medvedev met with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal. A spokesperson for the Russian president said Medvedev urged the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

During the two-day visit, Assad and his Russian counterpart agreed on a 14-point declaration which includes periodic presidential visits, as well as cooperation on tourism, education, military affairs, investment, trade and the prevention of the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Both leaders called for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons, a reference to Israel's undeclared nuclear arsenal.

Medvedev pledged to help Syria realise its ambition of serving as a major transit route for oil and gas between the Gulf and the Mediterranean by helping it strengthen its pipeline infrastructure. He also said that Russia could build nuclear reactors in Syria, but gave no further details.

"Cooperation on atomic energy could receive a second wind," Medvedev said without elaborating.

Assad said discussions focused on "oil and gas cooperation, as well as constructing conventional or nuclear-powered electricity stations".

Medvedev was accompanied on his trip by a number of Russian ministers, as well as a large business delegation.