Russia has kept a sizeable air-base in north-west Syria and a naval facility at the Mediterranean port of Tartus since Moscow's military intervention helped President Bashar al-Assad reclaim most of the country after nationwide protests that began in 2011.
Assad, the Kremlin's staunchest ally in the Middle East, has now fled to Moscow, where he and his family have been granted asylum.
In the wake of the Assad regime's collapse, Russia appears to be turning to diplomacy to preserve its influence in Syria, engaging in a flurry of activity with the rebels it had labelled as terrorists only days earlier.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Russian authorities were taking all "necessary steps to establish contact in Syria with those capable of ensuring the security of military bases".
Earlier, a Kremlin source told Russian state media that Syrian opposition leaders had agreed to guarantee the safety of Russian military bases and diplomatic institutions in Syria.
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