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 It was Assad's first foreign trip since the outbreak of the Syrian
crisis in 2011, and came three weeks after Russia launched a
campaign of air strikes against Islamist militants in Syria that has
also bolstered Assad's forces.
The Kremlin kept the visit quiet until Wednesday morning,
broadcasting a meeting between the two men in the Kremlin and
releasing a transcript of an exchange they had. It did not say
whether the Syrian leader was still in Moscow or had returned home.
Putin said he hoped progress on the military front would be followed
by moves toward a political solution in Syria, bolstering Western
hopes Moscow will use its increased influence on Damascus to cajole
Assad into talking to his opponents.
Iran has also long been a strong Syrian government ally, and the
fact that Assad chose to visit Moscow before Tehran is likely to be
interpreted in some circles as a sign that Russia has now emerged as
Assad's most important foreign friend.
 Russian state TV made the meeting its top news item, showing Assad,
dressed in a dark suit, talking to Putin, together with the Russian
foreign and defense ministers.
The Kremlin has cast its intervention in Syria, its biggest in the
Middle East since the 1991 Soviet collapse, as a common sense move
designed to roll back 'international terrorism' in the face of what
it says is ineffective action from Washington.
It is likely to use Assad's visit to buttress its domestic narrative
that its air campaign is just and effective and to underline its
assertion that the foray shows it has shaken off the Ukraine crisis
to become a serious global player.
GRATITUDE
"First of all I wanted to express my huge gratitude to the whole
leadership of the Russian Federation for the help they are giving
Syria," Assad told Putin.
"If it was not for your actions and your decisions the terrorism
which is spreading in the region would have swallowed up a much
greater area and spread over an even greater territory."
Assad, who looked relaxed, emphasized how Russia was acting
according to international law, praising Moscow's political approach
to the Syrian crisis which he said had ensured it had not played out
according to "a more tragic scenario."
Ultimately, he said, the resolution to the crisis was a political
one.
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"Terrorism is a real obstacle to a political solution," said Assad.
"And of course the whole (Syrian) people want to take part in
deciding the fate of their state, and not just the leadership."
Putin said Russia was ready to help find a political solution and
hailed the Syrian people for standing up to the militants "almost on
their own," saying the Syrian army had notched up serious
battlefield success in recent times.
He said Russia had felt compelled to act in Syria because of the
threat Islamist militants fighting Assad's forces there posed to its
own security.
"Unfortunately on Syrian territory there are about 4,000 people from
the former Soviet Union - at a minimum - fighting government forces
with weapons in their hands," said Putin.
"We, it goes without saying, can not allow them to turn up on
Russian territory after they have received battlefield experience
and undergone ideological instruction."
Putin said that positive developments on the military front in Syria
would provide a basis for a long-term political solution, involving
all political forces, ethnic and religious groups.
"We are ready to make our contribution not only in the course of
military actions in the fight against terrorism, but during the
political process," Putin said, according to the transcript released
by the Kremlin.
"This will, of course, be in close contact with other world powers
and with countries of the region which are interested in a peaceful
resolution of the conflict," Putin said.
(Additional reporting by Ekaterina Golubkova; Editing by Christian
Lowe)
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