Russian President Vladimir Putin spent his Christmas day in Damascus, a city that is closely tied to early Christianity, home to Syria’s oldest Orthodox Church and a mosque that keeps the relics of John the Baptist.
Putin’s plane touched down in Syria on Tuesday, to everyone’s surprise, as the president was last spotted in St. Petersburg the evening before, attending the Orthodox Christmas Eve service.
His unannounced trip included not only talks about fighting terrorism with Syrian President Bashar Assad, but also visits to the city’s historic religious sites. After the talks, Putin and Assad took a walk through the center of Damascus, stopping at the Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque.
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