Russia’s deputy foreign minister and a special presidential envoy for Syria arrived in Damascus on Tuesday, according to Russian state news.

A delegation of Russian officials is in Damascus, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported. It is the first such visit to Syria since the fall in December of former President Bashar Assad, an ally of Moscow.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -A Russian delegation has arrived in Damascus for the first time since Moscow's ally President Bashar al-Assad was toppled, Russia's TASS state news agency reported on Tuesday, as Russia tries to secure the future of its military bases in Syria.

While Russia has maintained its military presence in Syria, recent reports suggest that key agreements — among them a Russian-managed Tartus port project — have been cancelled. View on euronews

EU foreign ministers on Monday agreed to begin easing sanctions on Syria after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad in December, the bloc's top diplomat said. "While we aim to move fast, the lifting of sanctions can be reversed if wrong steps are taken,

"Regarding Syria, we are going to decide today to lift, to suspend, certain sanctions that had applied to the energy and transport sectors and to financial institutions that were key to the financial stabilisation of the country," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on arrival at the EU meeting in Brussels.

The first Russian official delegation to visit Syria since the toppling of long-term Moscow ally Bashar al-Assad has arrived in Damascus, Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday. The visit comes with Moscow keen to secure the fate of two military bases there and after Russian President Vladimir Putin denied that Moscow had suffered a strategic "defeat" in the Middle East following the fall of Assad.

Senior Russian officials arrived in Damascus on Tuesday for their first meetings with Syria's new leadership under Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), which led the overthrow of Moscow's main Middle East ally,

Sharaa, has not ordered a Russian exit despite the fall of pro- Moscow dictator Bashar Assad. Russian diplomats on Tuesday arrived in Syria for the first time since the fall of former dictator Bashar Assad in December.