(MENAFN- Live Mint) During his visit to Moscow on Wednesday, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said he wanted to“redefine” relations with Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted him in Moscow in their first meeting since key Kremlin ally Bashar al-Assad was ousted last year.

According to news agency AFP, the Syrian leader is expected to push to extradite Assad, who fled to Moscow after being toppled.

The two leaders are also expected to discuss the status of Russia's prized military bases in the country – the naval base in Tartus and air base at Hmeimim – the fate of which has been uncertain since the rebel takeover.

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In remarks at the start of the meeting, Sharaa acknowledged the two countries' historic ties but said he wanted a recalibration, as he brings Damascus back onto the world stage.

"We are trying to restore and redefine in a new way the nature of these relations so there is independence for Syria, sovereign Syria, and also its territorial unity and integrity and its security stability," Sharaa told Putin .

The Russian leader hailed "special relations" between the two countries that "have developed between our countries over many decades."

So far, neither mentioned Assad or the Russian bases, the main sticking points in the relationship.

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An official, who requested anonymity as they were not allowed to brief the media, told AFP that“Sharaa will ask the Russian president to hand over all individuals who committed war crimes and are in Russia, most notably Bashar al-Assad.”

The longtime ruler, who was toppled in December, sought refuge in Moscow.

Russia was a key ally of Assad during the bloody 14-year Syrian civil war , providing vital military support that kept his forces in power.

After providing him with diplomatic support at the UN Security Council, it intervened militarily to support Assad in 2015 with heavy air bombardments of rebel-held areas.

But he was ousted from power last December in an offensive led by Sharaa's Islamist forces, fleeing to Russia , which has been sheltering him and his family for the past 10 months.

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Despite this, Syria's new Islamist rulers have sought peaceful relations with Russia.

Uncertainty has clouded the fate of Russia's naval base in Tartus and its air base at Hmeimim since Assad's ouster.

(With agency inputs)

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