...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...has told his Syrian counterpart that the situation in Syria is now favorable for the beginning of a "political process."
In a rare meeting with the visiting Syrian head of state in Russia's southern city of Sochi on Thursday, Putin said recent victories against terrorist groups in Syria paved the ground for the withdrawal of foreign forces.
"After the military success (of the Syrian army in recent months), supplementary conditions have been created which favor the start of a political process on a major scale," Putin said in a statement after the meeting.
Assad welcomed the idea and said Damascus was resolved to pursue the political process in tandem with its military efforts.
"Stability is improving, and all that opens the doors to the political process, which we started a while ago," Assad told Putin, according to a transcript posted on the Kremlin's website.
"I have always said, and I repeat it again, that we have always wholeheartedly supported the political process, which should proceed in parallel with the war on terrorism," he added.