MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to persisting presence of foreign troops in Syria without the permission of the country’s authorities as a problem at a meeting with the Syrian leader Bashar Assad. The information about the talks held in the Kremlin on Monday was published on the Russian President’s website on Tuesday.

"I consider the main problem the fact that foreign armed forces, without the permission of the United Nations Organization, without your sanctions, are still present on separate territories of the country, which evidently contradicts the international law and prevents you from undertaking best efforts for the country’s consolidation and for moving towards its recovery with rates possible if the whole territory was controlled by the legal government," Putin said.

Hotspots of terrorists’ resistance still remain in Syria, the president said, adding that terrorists not simply control some part of the territory, but continue terrorizing civilians. "Nevertheless, refugees actively return to the freed regions. I saw with own eyes when I visited you at your invitation how people actively reconstruct their houses, actively work at returning to peaceful life in every sense of the word," the Russian leader emphasized.