Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu who was present at the talks and dinner with Assad on Tuesday said in remarks carried out by Russian news agencies on Wednesday that Moscow is not going to halt its military operation in Syria.

„With our support, Syrian government forces have turned from a retreat to an offensive, liberating a part of their territory from Islamic State militants,“ Shoigu said. „We are going to continue rendering the assistance to the legitimate Syrian authorities and create preconditions for a settlement of this conflict.“