Today Vladimir Putin has announced ISIS's total defeat in Syria's Euphrates valley. Earlier, Russia's Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu reported to the President about the operation’s termination and the total victory.
President Putin:
The Minister of Defense has reported that the operation on the eastern and western banks of the Euphrates is over. The result is a total defeat of the terrorists. Some detached hot-spots of terrorism still exist, but on the whole, the military part of the operation at this point and on this territory is finished. I repeat: the complete defeat over ISIS and victory over terrorists.
And then, together with other participants of this process with Syria's government, with countries in this region, with the UN we'll need to go to the next stage, to the political process. We need to start the political process, to create and to hold the Congress of the Syrian People which was agreed to at the trilateral meeting of the presidents of Russia, Iran, and Turkey in Sochi to prepare a new Constitution and then as the process develops to hold presidential and parliamentary elections. But this is very large and long work.
We should start with the very first steps: to fix today's situation, to strengthen de-escalation zones, to put an end to the bloodshed and pass on to a peaceful political settlement.
