--- description: The U.S. has criticized Syria's state visit to Russia, saying that Moscow rolled out a "red carpet welcome" for Bashar al-Assad title: The U.S. Slams Putin's Meeting With Syrian President Assad image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d5c0b87151aa74c/698869515f570f3505b1df66/rts5eeo.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Syria](/tag/syria/) ## Syria Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The White House Condemns Vladimir Putin's Meeting with Syrian President Assad by [Joanna Plucinska](/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 22, 2015 6:24 AM CUT  Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, October 20, 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, October 20, 2015Alexei Druzhinin—RIA Novosti/Reuters by [Joanna Plucinska](/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 22, 2015 6:24 AM CUT The U.S. has criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for inviting his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad for a state visit, saying that Moscow rolled out a “red carpet welcome” for the embattled leader despite widely-held suspicions he committed war crimes against his own people. The meeting took place on Tuesday as part of [Assad’s first](http://time.com/4080886/russia-syria-meeting-isis-moscow/ "undefined") trip outside Syria since the nation’s civil war broke out in 2011\. Putin has repeatedly shown support for ongoing military action in the Middle Eastern country, calling Syria a “friend” of Russia. “We view the red carpet welcome for Assad, who has used chemical weapons against his own people, at odds with the stated goal by the Russians for a political transition in Syria,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters, according to the [BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34595409 "undefined"). The [U.S. has ](http://time.com/4074568/putins-syria-gamble/ "undefined")already expressed its disapproval of Russia’s air campaign in Syria, with Obama calling Russia’s targeting of moderate rebel forces “a recipe for disaster.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry are slated to meet for talks in Vienna on Friday, according to [al-Jazeera](http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/10/russia-saudi-turkey-meet-discuss-syria-151021144014752.html "undefined"). \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34595409 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4082834/us-putin-assad-meeting/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4082834/us-putin-assad-meeting/"},"headline":"The White House Condemns Vladimir Putin's Meeting with Syrian President Assad","datePublished":"2015-10-22T06:24:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:59:19.597Z","description":"The U.S. has already expressed its disapproval of Russia's air campaign in Syria","url":"https://time.com/4082834/us-putin-assad-meeting/","keywords":["Syria","putin","russia","U.S.","Middle East","diplomacy","assad"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d5c0b87151aa74c/698869515f570f3505b1df66/rts5eeo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joanna Plucinska","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d5c0b87151aa74c/698869515f570f3505b1df66/rts5eeo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Russian President Putin shakes hands with Syrian President Assad during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow","caption":"Russian President Putin shakes hands with Syrian President Assad during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow","creditText":"Alexei Druzhinin—RIA Novosti/Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/syria/","name":"Syria"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4082834/us-putin-assad-meeting/","name":"The White House Condemns Vladimir Putin's Meeting with Syrian President Assad"}}]}] ```