MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/. Syrian President Bashar Assad thanked Russian authorities for the aid in elimination of the aftermath of recent earthquakes in the Arab Republic.

"I would like to thank ministries and agencies of the Russian Federation that helped in elimination of the aftermath of the earthquakes. Thanks to their involvement, we were able to significantly reduce the number of victims and the scale of damage," the Syrian leader said during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday.

Two earthquakes, magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 occurred in southeastern Turkey on February 6. The underground shocks, followed by thousands of aftershocks, were felt in 11 provinces of turkey, as well as in foreign countries, with Syria being affected the most.