Moscow – Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday that his country is planning to improve the abilities of the Syrian regime forces, which will allow Russian troops in the country to move to return to their bases there.

He said during a live call-in show with citizens: “We aim to establish a political settlement process (in Syria) between all the sides involved. Our task for the near future is to increase the capability of the Syrian regime itself, by providing the possibility for it to act on its own effectively.”

This will allow the Russian troops return to the bases that they had had established there in Hmeimim and Tartous, explained Putin. He added however that his country’s troops will be available to support the Syrian regime if needed.

The Russian military has gained “priceless” experience in Syria, continued Putin.

The campaign in Syria that Russia has conducted since September 2015 has allowed the military to test its state-of-the art weapons in real combat.

Putin said that Moscow realizes that there are several errors in the structure of the Syrian regime and that it committed certain mistakes in building ties inside the country.

Russia had held dialogue with Syrian regime head Bashar Assad before Moscow had kicked off its military campaign in 2015. It was evident during those talks, said Putin, that Assad “understands several of the problems.”

He revealed that Assad was prepared to hold dialogue with the opposition, even the armed one. He was also ready to work with them to establish a new constitution for Syria.

Furthermore, Putin stated that Assad was prepared to agree that the potential upcoming presidential elections could be overseen by international monitors.

On international cooperation to resolve the Syrian conflict, Putin said that it was not easy to reach consensus over this issue, adding that direct dialogue “with the partner and the other grants us opportunities to achieve that.”

He stressed that Russia is in great need of the help of the United States, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt to resolve the Syrian crisis.

“Everyone realizes that the Syrian crisis and conflict in the Middle East cannot be resolved without joint effort,” he declared.