MOSCOW/DAMASCUS: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday evening made his first foreign visit since Syria's war broke out in 2011, and held talks with his main backer and counterpart Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said Wednesday.

"Yesterday evening, the president of the Syrian Arab Republic, Bashar al-Assad, made a working visit to Moscow," Peskov said, adding that he met with Putin.

According to a transcript of their meeting published on the Kremlin website, Assad thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for his military support.

Putin said Russia was also ready to help with a political solution in Syria, and would work closely on that with other world powers who want a peaceful solution to Syria's prolonged conflict.

"I would like to express enormous gratitude to the whole leadership of the Russian Federation and to the Russian people for the help they are giving Syria," the transcript quoted Assad as saying.

"Thank you for standing up for the unity of Syria, and its independence," he said. "Those political steps that have been taken by the Russian Federation since the start of the crisis have not allowed events in Syria to develop following a tragic scenario."

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. 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, according to the transcript.

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