MOSCOW — Russia said Friday it is withdrawing its aircraft carrier and other warships from the waters off Syria, following orders from President Vladimir Putin to scale back his forces as he casts himself as a peacemaker for the Middle
MOSCOW — Russia said Friday it is withdrawing its aircraft carrier and other warships from the waters off Syria, following orders from President Vladimir Putin to scale back his forces as he casts himself as a peacemaker for the Middle Eastern country.
Russia’s military support changed the course of the 6-year-old civil war in favor of the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, bolstering his forces with long-range missile attacks and precise airstrikes, military advisers and a beefed-up naval base on the Mediterranean coast.
It is not clear how far Moscow intends to draw down its forces.
But the withdrawal is a show of confidence after the decisive victory last month by Assad and his allies over rebels in the northern city of Aleppo. A week ago, Russia helped broker a cease-fire with Turkey, which supports the opposition, paving the way for new peace talks, this time in Kazakhstan, a Moscow ally.
“The successes of the Syrian armed forces in the liberation of Aleppo have created the necessary conditions for the peaceful settlement of the conflict,” said Russian General Staff chief Gen. Valery Gerasimov. “I’m confident that it will lay the basis for the political settlement of the conflict.”
The first forces to leave, he said, will be the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, which was deployed in November at the height of the Aleppo offensive, and other, accompanying ships.
