Russia pledges to help Syria develop its oil industry after Putin-Sharaa meeting

Russia has pledged to help Syria develop its oil industry, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said following a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday.

However, as Sharaa left Moscow after talks where little progress appeared to have been made, questions remain over whether Russia can maintain its influence on Syria and the Middle East.

Vladimir Putin and the Arab League announced on 9 October that the planned Russian-Arab summit that was due to be held in Moscow on Wednesday, would be postponed due to events in the Middle East and the signing of a US-brokered Gaza peace deal between Israel and Hamas in Egypt on Monday.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov later confirmed the summit would go ahead as soon as leaders could agree on new dates, according to state-affiliated business daily Vedomosti. The Guardian, however, said only Sharaa and the head of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, had agreed to attend, leading to the Kremlin’s decision to postpone.

Sharaa’s visit to Moscow was the second by a member of Syria’s new administration since Bashar al-Assad’s ouster in December. During a meeting with Putin in the Kremlin in July, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said Damascus wanted Moscow “by our side” as it rebuilt after the bloody civil war and called on Russia to support “transitional justice” in the country, though he did not mention the Syrian government’s demand that Assad be returned to face justice in his homeland directly.

While Russia once played an important role in the area, now even its continued military presence in Syria is in question, with the future of its two military bases, both of which were used extensively during its intervention in the Syrian civil war on Assad’s side in 2015, uncertain since the fall of his regime. Last week, Lavrov suggested Moscow could retain its presence in Syria by repurposing the bases as “humanitarian hubs” to deliver aid from Russia and the Middle East to Africa.