Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in Sochi, said active Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peshkov. The two leaders held "extensive" negotiations, he added.
The two presidents spoke about the conditions that would facilitate the development of the peace process, while the Syrian leader said that he decided to send a delegation to a commission tasked with rewriting the Syrian Constitution, which was defended by the UN, according to Russian media.
The agreement to set up the constitutional commission was one of the main results of the Sochi peace conference in January. The conference participants agreed on January 30th to set up a constitutional commission in Geneva and hold democratic elections in Syria.
At the time, Moscow said it expected the UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, to take concrete steps to implement the decisions taken at the Sochi conference and to take an active part in drafting a new constitution for Syria. The three countries, which mediated in the Sochi Congress, Russia, Iran and Turkey, pledged their full support to the UN in implementing its results.
The Constitutional Committee is expected to include about 150 members, including representatives from those groups who did not attend the Sochi rally in January.
During Thursday's meeting, the two leaders also discussed the need to step up humanitarian efforts in Syria, as well as issues related to the economic recovery of the war-torn country, Peshkov said. Putin also congratulated Assad on "significant progress in the fight against terrorist groups" on Syrian soil.