Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Tuesday.
Shoigu “informed the Syrian president about Russian naval exercises” in the eastern Mediterranean, the Defense Ministry said.
The two also discussed military-technical cooperation against international terrorism and Russian humanitarian aid to Syria.
Russia has been backing the Assad regime in Syria’s devastating civil war since 2015.
The West imposed sanctions on Moscow for supporting Assad’s regime.