MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said at his annual press conference and Q&A session that Moscow has achieved its primary goal in Syria: preventing the country from becoming a terrorist enclave.

"In fact, we entered Syria ten years ago in order to prevent the emergence of a terrorist enclave similar to what we had seen in some other countries, namely Afghanistan. We have largely achieved our goals," he noted.

According to Putin, the groups that fought against Syrian government forces have gone through major internal changes. "No wonder that today, many European countries and the United States seek to establish relations with them. Why are you making advances if those are terrorist organizations? It means they have changed, doesn’t it? And this means that, to a certain extent, we have met our goal," he pointed out.

In late November, armed opposition units launched a large-scale offensive on positions held by Syrian government forces. On December 8, they entered Damascus, prompting government troops to withdraw from the capital. Bashar Assad resigned as Syrian president and left the country. On December 10, Mohammed al-Bashir, who had led the so-called Syrian Salvation Government in the Idlib Province since January 2024, announced his appointment as head of Syria’s interim government. The interim period is expected to last until March 1, 2025.