The visit of the Russian President Vladimir Putin to Damascus they tried to present it as a trip of the Minister of Defense countries Sergei Shoigu . The details of the preparation for the operation were disclosed by the head of of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Russia Valery Gerasimov in the documentary” No room for error. Christmas visit to Damascus “, published on the site” Vesti.ru ” .
“We had to organize the implementation of all tasks to ensure the safety of the visit, without disclosing the essence of the plan and purpose of these events,” Gerasimov explained. He added that the preparations for Putin’s trip were kept secret, despite checking the route for electronic warfare, as well as demining the road and nearby buildings.
Shoigu, in turn, noted that the authorities carried out a deep assessment of all threats and tried not to arouse interest in the visit.
Recalling the trip, Putin spoke about the friendly people on the streets of Damascus “from different social backgrounds” that he met during his rare walks. He also explained his visit to the Umayyad Mosque by wanting to look at the head of John the Baptist. “It was unexpected for me that the relics of John the Baptist are preserved and carefully preserved in the mosque, and they are venerated in the Islamic world,” the president said.
In the same film, Shoigu compared Putin’s visit to Damascus with a “thriller worse than Hollywood. ” The trip of the head of state to Syria took place in January 2020. Putin met with the President of Syria Bashar al-Assad , visited the Umayyad Mosque and met with the Patriarch of Antioch and the whole East by John X in Orthodox Church Holy Virgin Mary.
A civil war has been going on in Syria since the spring of 2011. The main participants in the conflict are government forces supporting Assad, the moderate opposition and Islamist groups.