The Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria is “willing to enhance” an established relationship with the pro-Russian separatist groups in Eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region known as the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), Syrian Ambassador to Moscow Riad Haddad told Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency on Wednesday.

Russian strongman Vladimir Putin recognized the two separatist organizations as sovereign “state” governments in February, then announced the “states” had requested Russian military assistance to fight Ukraine. Russian forces have been involved in a full-scale invasion of Ukraine since.

“Syria cooperates with the two republics for the benefit of the peoples and is willing to enhance this cooperation if it meets the common interests, and the official recognition remains an issue requiring further examination and coordination between the two sides,” TASS quoted Haddad as saying on March 30.

The Syrian ambassador recalled on Wednesday how, “at the end of last year, during a visit of the Russian parliamentary delegation to Damascus, which also included the DPR representatives, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad announced his readiness to recognize the republic of Donbass, ‘and it was agreed to start establishing relations with it.'”

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told reporters on February 22 Damascus supported Putin’s decision on February 21 to formally recognize the independence of the DPR and LPR.

“Syria supports President Vladimir Putin’s decision to recognise the republics of Luhansk and Donetsk,” Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said during an official visit to Moscow, as quoted by Syrian state media.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad via a video conference call at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on November 9, 2020. (ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

The office of the Syrian presidency issued a statement on February 22 backing Mekdad’s remarks earlier that same day. The press release said “Damascus had already planned to recognize Donetsk as early as December 2021,” Reuters reported at the time.

“Syria affirms that it is ready to work on building relations with the republics of Luhansk and Donetsk and to strengthen them with regard to mutual interests,” the statement read.

Russia’s military launched an air and ground offensive in neighboring Ukraine on February 24, just 72 hours after the Kremlin announced plans to recognize the independence of the DPR and LPR.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad expressed his personal support of Russia’s latest war with Ukraine during a telephone call with Putin on February 25. Al Jazeera reported the phone call citing an original account of the communication by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

SANA quoted Al-Assad as saying he praised Russia’s military action toward Ukraine while “denouncing what he called Western ‘hysteria’ surrounding it.”

A banner depicting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin and reading “Justice Prevails”, is displayed along a highway in the Syrian capital Damascus, on March 8, 2022. (LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)

“Al-Assad told Putin … what was happening in Ukraine was a ‘correction of history and restoration of balance which was lost in the world after the breakup of the Soviet Union,'” the news agency relayed.

“Syria stands with the Russian Federation based on its conviction that its position is correct and because confronting NATO expansionism is a right for Russia,” Al-Assad added.

“Damascus is a staunch ally of Moscow, which intervened in the Syrian civil war in 2015 by launching air attacks to support al-Assad’s struggling forces against various rebel factions,” Al Jazeera noted at the time.