Russia's foreign ministry said on Wednesday that co-operation with Syria was developing very actively and that Moscow was discussing with Damascus a, "possible reformatting," of its military facilities in Syria.
The December 2024 ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a close Russian ally, raised questions about the future of Russia's Hmeimim airbase in Latakia and its naval facility at Tartous.
But Moscow has since built relations with Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former rebel commander who is now Syria's president.
"Russian-Syrian co-operation is developing very actively," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said when asked about reported plans for the creation of a logistics hub in Tartous to distribute goods imported from Russia across Syria.
"Within the framework of contacts with Syrian partners, the issue of Russia's military presence in Syria is also being discussed, including in the context of a possible reformatting of the functionality of Russian military facilities."
The bases in Syria are an integral part of Russia's global military presence: the Tartous naval base is Russia's only Mediterranean repair and resupply hub, while Hmeimim is a major staging post for military and mercenary activity in Africa.
Russia intervened militarily in Syria in 2015 to back Assad in a civil war.
Reuters reported in 2024 that Russia was pulling back forces from front lines in northern Syria and from posts in mountains dominated by Assad's Alawite community, but was not leaving its Mediterranean bases in Hmeimim and Tartous.
Moscow has backed Syria since early in the Cold War, and had recognised its independence in 1944 as Damascus sought to throw off French colonial rule. The West long regarded Syria as a Soviet satellite.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Mark Trevelyan)