Syrian President Bashar Assad expressed confidence on Tuesday that the current visit of the Crimean delegation to Syria was the beginning of prolific cooperation between the two sides.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th October, 2018) Syrian President Bashar Assad expressed confidence on Tuesday that the current visit of the Crimean delegation to Syria was the beginning of prolific cooperation between the two sides.
The delegation, headed by Crimea's head Sergei Aksyonov, arrived in Damascus on Monday with a two-day official visit to discuss and sign bilateral deals on economic and scientific cooperation. Assad has met with the delegation earlier in the day.
"[Upon receiving Crimea's head Sergei Aksyonov, the president] congratulated Crimea's people and authorities on the fact that their will on reuniting with Russia had been realized and confirmed that the current visit was a new beginning of cooperation between the two parties in different sectors," Assad's press service said in a statement.
Crimea rejoined Russia in 2014, when 97 percent of those participating in the referendum voted for the reunification. Despite this, the vote was not recognized by the majority of the Western countries that subsequently imposed economic and political sanctions on Moscow.
Russian authorities have repeatedly stated that the Crimean residents decided to rejoin Russia following a democratic procedure. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the issue of Crimea's territorial belonging was "historically closed."
