MOSCOW. Nov 21 (Interfax) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has assessed the operation against terrorists in Syria as quite successful, the Kremlin said on its website.
"I am very glad to meet with you two years and several weeks since Russia launched an operation, which has been quite successful," al-Assad said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A transcript of the meeting was published on the Kremlin website.
Major successes have been scored both on the battlefield and from a political standpoint since the beginning of this operation, he said.
"Most of Syria's districts have been liberated from terrorists, and Syrians who were earlier forced to leave these districts have been able to return to them," al-Assad said.
The operation made it possible to promote a political settlement process in Syria, he said.
Russia helped advance this process in different areas and primarily on the basis of respect for the UN Charter and Syria's sovereignty and independence, al-Assad said.
"Such a stance has been advocated within various international platforms, including as part of the Astana process. The same concerns plans to hold the National Dialogue Congress in the coming days. And now we have an excellent opportunity to discuss both the upcoming congress and the upcoming summit and also coordinate our positions on further steps," he said.
Putin and al-Assad met in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday.