23 December 2016, 13:44 GMT
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Putin also stressed that "now the main task is to focus on issues relating to promoting peaceful settlement, particularly by concluding an agreement on the comprehensive settlement of the Syrian crisis."
"This success was made possible through the joint efforts of all those who united in the fight against international terrorism in Syria," Putin's message circulated by the Kremlin's press service stated.
On December 16, the Russian Defense Ministry's center for Syrian reconciliation said that the Syrian army operation to liberate Aleppo's eastern neighborhoods was over, and that Syrian government troops were eliminating separate hotbeds of militants' resistance. On Thursday, the Syrian army declared victory in Aleppo as the last convoy with militants left the city's east.
