Russian Forces' Withdrawal From Syria to Depend on Counterterror Tasks

All future decisions about Russian military's pulling out from Syria will also have to be made based on the challenges presented by counterterror fight, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian upper house of parliament, Konstantin Kosachev, said Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov said that Russian forces had begun their gradual withdrawal from Syria, announced by President Vladimir Putin in late December.

"All subsequent decisions must also be made solely based on the assessments of the experts and in conjunction with the priorities dictated by the need to stamp out the hotbeds of terrorist threat in Syria," Kosachev said.

The lawmaker added that Moscow's decision to decrease military presence in Syria was based on the stabilization of the situation after the liberation of the city of Aleppo and the beginning of a nationwide ceasefire, brokered by Russia and Turkey, which took effect at midnight local time on December 30 (22:00 GMT on December 29).

A Northern Fleet carrier group led by the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier will be the first to leave Syria.