Putin, Assad meet in Moscow, discuss Middle East 'escalation'

July 25 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Moscow, according to a Thursday morning Kremlin announcement.

Putin told Assad he wanted the Syrian leader's opinion on the situation in the Middle East.

"Unfortunately, there is a tendency towards escalation, we can see that," Putin said. "This also applied directly to Syria."

Assad told Putin, "Considering all the events that are taking place in the world as a whole and in the Eurasian region today, our meeting seems very important to discuss all the details of the development of these events, to discuss possible prospects and scenarios."

Russia came to Assad's aid militarily when Syrian rebels revolted in a civil war against Assad's authoritarian regime. With the Russian military force, Assad was able to regain control of Syria.

Assad said the Moscow visit marks the anniversary of diplomatic relations established between the countries.

Russia's state-run TASS news agency said Putin told Assad they had "the opportunity to talk about the entire set of our relations. We have not seen each other for a while."

The meeting came as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised the possibility of meeting with Putin and Assad in an effort to normalize relations between Turkey and Syria.

Putin met earlier this month with Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi and Hungary's Viktor Orban.