DAMASCUS (Parliament Politics Magazine) – In response to Kyiv’s identical action, Syria, a strong Russian ally, has declared it is formally cutting all diplomatic connections with Ukraine.
According to a statement released by the Syrian foreign ministry on Wednesday, The Syrian Arab Republic has chosen to sever diplomatic ties with Ukraine, confirming the principle of reciprocity.
After Syria’s recognition of the eastern Ukraine breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, which receive support from Russia, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared Kyiv would end relations with it late last month.
At the time, Zelenskyy declared that contacts between Ukraine and Syria would end.
Syria’s foreign ministry said that Ukraine’s refusal to revalidate the residence permits of its diplomatic staff members in Kyiv caused a first rift in relations in 2018 and prevented them from doing their jobs.
The declaration was made on Wednesday, a day after the leaders of Iran, Russia, and Turkey met in Tehran for a summit. Faisal Mekdad, Syrian Foreign Minister is now in Tehran meeting with Iranian authorities.
Russian President Putin spoke with Ebrahim Raisi, Iranian President and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish President about the conflict in Syria on his second trip outside of Russia since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
Syria-Russia relations
Following Putin’s intervention in the Syrian civil war to assist the shift of balance of power in favour of President Bashar al-Assad, Damascus and Moscow grew closer.
In return, Assad’s administration allied with Russia in 2018 to recognise the breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, supported by Russia which are otherwise recognised as a part of Georgia internationally.
In defiance of the rest of the world, Syria has likewise acknowledged the independence of the separatist governments in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Al Jazeera was informed by analysts in April that Russia was making attempts to recruit Syria’s fighters to join its forces in Ukraine.
It is yet to be seen how this decision will affect the course of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
