A White House spokesman condemned the "red carpet welcome" given to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One late Wednesday evening, principal deputy press secretary Eric Schultz said that the White House believed Russia to be "propping up Assad," and that the situation in Syria would be "exacerbated" by the Kremlin's welcome:
We view the red carpet welcome for Assad, who has used chemical weapons against his own people, as at odds with the stated goal by the Russians for a political transition in Syria. But for us, this doesn't change anything about the situation in Syria. We still believe that Russia propping up Assad after he's turned his country into a civil war, after allowing extremists to flourish, and creating the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II is only exacerbated by welcoming President Assad to Moscow.
We urge Russia to use its influence with the Syrian regime to press for a political transition, because we know right now what they're doing is counterproductive.
Assad and Putin held lengthy talks during "a working visit" Tuesday evening, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the state-run TASS Agency reported.
Assad used the visit — his first foreign trip since 2011, when Syria's civil war began — to thank his Russian counterpart for the military support Moscow has provided his regime since joining the conflict last month.
"First of all I wanted to express my huge gratitude to the whole leadership of the Russian Federation for the help they are giving Syria," Assad said, according to a Reuters translation of a Kremlin transcript.
"If it was not for your actions and your decisions the terrorism which is spreading in the region would have swallowed up a much greater area and spread over an even greater area," he added.
Russia is one of the Syrian regime's biggest global allies, with Putin describing Syria as a "friend" during their meeting. He also praised Syrians for standing up to "extremists" "almost on their own," the Kremlin said.
Putin added that Russia was ready to assist the Syrian regime with "political support" in order to "bring peace" to the country, the BBC reported.
The BBC reported that Assad had already returned to Syria by Wednesday morning.
Russia joined the conflict in Syria when it launched airstrikes in support of Assad's troops on Sept. 30. Moscow initially said it was targeting ISIS militants, but has since been criticized for targeting other rebel groups fighting against the regime, including some trained by the CIA.