Putin, Assad Discuss Syria Via Video Conference

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and his Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad discussed on Monday the humanitarian crisis in Syria via video conference, according to Sputnik news agency.

During the online meeting, the Russian President indicated that his country will continue its efforts to help calm the situation in Syria.

Putin said: "Russia supports holding an international conference on refugees, and we will partake in it by a large delegation.", "There are more than 6.5 million refugees ousted from Syria, most of them are citizens who are able to work."

"Young refugees can pose a threat to their hosting countries as they may fall under the influence of extremists." he continued.

Moreover, Putin described the ongoing work within the Astana formula on Syria as effective and emphasized: "Together we have achieved a lot and hotbeds of terrorism have been eliminated."

Since 2017, talks have been ongoing in Nur-Sultan (formerly Astana) on the Syrian issue within the framework of the so-called Astana formula, and in January 2018, the Russian city of Sochi hosted the Syrian National Dialogue Conference, which was the first attempt since the beginning of the conflict to gather a wide range of participants in one negotiating platform.

The main outcome of the conference was the decision to establish a Constitutional Commission, to operate in Geneva whose main task is to prepare constitutional reform.