When receiving his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad, Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the presence of foreign forces in Syria and welcomed the "tremendous damage" caused to opposition factions and militants, the Kremlin said Tuesday.

During this meeting, which took place on Monday, Putin said that "terrorists have incurred enormous damage" in Syria, where government forces control "90% of the Syrian territory."

But Putin saw, according to a statement issued by the Kremlin, that the "main problem" in Syria is foreign interference in its territory.

"Foreign armed forces are present without a decision of the United Nations, in some areas of the country, in violation of international law, which prevents maximum efforts to strengthen the country and progress on the path of reconstruction," Putin stressed.

The Russian president stressed that his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, "is doing a lot to establish a dialogue with his political opponents."

For his part, Bashar al-Assad saluted the "great achievements made by the Syrian and Russian armies in the liberation of lands and the retreat of terrorists."

But he pointed out that the political process that was launched nearly two years ago is facing "obstacles because there are countries that support terrorists and have no interest in continuing this process in the direction that achieves stability in Syria."

"Some countries have imposed a siege on the Syrian people, a siege that we describe as inhumane, immoral and illegal," he added.

Russia intervened militarily in Syria in 2015, allowing the Syrian regime forces to regain areas they had lost to opposition factions and jihadist movements. Russia has military bases in Syria.

Several rounds of talks were organized under the auspices of the United Nations, but they failed to end the violence in Syria, where the conflict has killed nearly half a million people and displaced millions of people since 2011.