Syria's Sharaa tells Putin he will respect past deals with Moscow

By Vladimir Soldatkin, Andrew Osborn and Suleiman Al-Khalidi

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday he would honour all past deals struck between his country and Moscow, a pledge suggesting Moscow's two main military bases in Syria are safe.

Sharaa, who once headed the Syrian branch of al Qaeda and who toppled predecessor Bashar al-Assad, a close Russian ally, late last year, was speaking at the start of Kremlin talks with Putin on his first visit to Russia since coming to power.

"There are bilateral relations and shared interests that bind us with Russia, and we respect all agreements made with it. We are working on redefining the nature of relations with Russia," Sharaa, who was speaking in Arabic, told Putin.

Putin told him that Moscow was ready to do all it could to act on what he called "many interesting and useful beginnings" that had already been discussed between the two sides when it came to renewing relations.

OIL PROJECTS AND MILITARY BASES

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters after the talks that Moscow was willing to work on oil projects in Syria and help it to restore energy, rail and other infrastructure destroyed during years of civil war. The two leaders had discussed this at length, he said.

"Russian companies have been working in Syria for a long time, at oil fields. There are fields that require development, those that are mothballed, and new fields. We are ready to participate," Novak said.

The Kremlin said before the talks that the fate of Russia's two main bases in Syria - the Hmeimim air base in Syria's Latakia province, and its naval facility at Tartous on the coast - would be discussed.

Russia has a military presence at Qamishli airport - in the northeast near the borders of Turkey and Iraq - as well.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Moscow believed Damascus wanted the military bases to stay and spoke about using them as logistics hubs to get aid to Africa.

Syrian officials are seeking guarantees that Russia will not help rearm remnants of Assad's forces, a Syrian source said before the talks. Sharaa is hoping that Russia might also help rebuild the Syrian army, the same source said.

SENSITIVE VISIT

Sharaa's visit was sensitive. Russia used its military muscle to back Assad for years against Syrian rebels who came to power in December last year led by Sharaa. Moscow then granted asylum to Assad and his family when they fled the country.

The Assads now live discreetly in Moscow, according to Russian media.

Two Syrian sources told Reuters that Sharaa would use the talks to formally request that Moscow hand over Assad to face trial over alleged crimes against Syrians.

Russia prides itself on being able to protect its foreign allies and was not likely to agree to hand over Assad to Damascus. Lavrov said on Monday that Russia had given Assad refuge because his life had been under threat.

Sharaa, who is hoping to secure economic concessions from Russia, including the resumption of wheat supplies on favourable terms and compensation for war damage, was also expected to press for Moscow's backing to resist Israeli demands for a wider demilitarised zone in southern Syria.

One of the two sources said he might also raise the issue of redeploying Russian military police as a guarantor against further Israeli encroachments.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Andrew Osborn in Moscow; Suleiman Al-Khalidi and by Ahmed Elimam and Tala Ramadan; writing by Andrew Osborn; editing by Mark Trevelyan and Ros Russell)