Assad"s office said he had arrived in Moscow for an official visit during which he would meet with Putin Assad was accompanied by a "large ministerial delegation", said the Syrian presidency statement MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with Syria’s leader Bashar Assad in Moscow on Wednesday, the Kremlin said. “Topical issues of further development of Russian-Syrian cooperation in the political, trade, economic and humanitarian spheres, as well as prospects for a comprehensive settlement of the situation in and around Syria will be discussed,” the Kremlin said in a statement on Tuesday. Assad’s office said he had arrived in Moscow for an official visit during which he would meet with Putin. In a statement, it said that the Syrian president had been greeted on arrival by Putin’s special representative Mikhail Bogdanov and the Russian ambassador to Damascus Alexander Yefimov. Assad was accompanied by a “large ministerial delegation,” said the Syrian presidency statement. Damascus is a staunch ally of Moscow which intervened in the Syrian conflict in 2015 by launching air strikes to support the government’s struggling forces. The Syrian civil war has killed around half a million people and displaced millions more since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.