Russian President Vladimir Putin said he plans to meet with deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad soon and will ask him about the whereabouts of missing American journalist Austin Tice.

In his annual marathon press conference, fielding questions from around Russia, Putin publicly spoke on the fall of Assad, a key Russian ally, for the first time. He revealed that he hadn’t yet met with Assad, who is currently in exile in Moscow, but that he will soon. Responding to a question from NBC News’s Keir Simmons, who cited a letter from Tice’s mother seeking Putin’s assistance, the Russian president said he would broach the matter during his meeting with Assad.