Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia will begin withdrawing the main part of its military force from Syria.
It comes as talks resume in the Swiss city of Geneva aimed at ending the five-year conflict in the country.
Vladimir Putin had ordered the launch of a Russian military operation in Syria about six months ago.
But after meeting in the Kremlin with his defence and foreign ministers, President Putin now says his forces will be pulling out of the country.
He says the objectives of the intervention have been met.
(Translated)"I believe that the goal set out to the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces has, overall, been fulfilled. And that's why I order the Minister of Defence, as of tomorrow, to start the pullout of the main part of our military grouping from the Syrian Arab Republic."
President Putin has not given a date for the completion of the withdrawal and says Russia's air base will continue to operate in the country.
Russia is a key ally of President Bashar al-Assad and says he has been informed of the decision.
Russia's intervention in Syria has helped to turn the tide of the five-year-old civil war in President Assad's favour.
It followed months of gains in western Syria by rebel fighters aided by foreign military supplies, including some from the United States.
Mr Putin has also ordered the intensifying of Russia's diplomatic efforts to broker a peace deal in Syria as United Nations-brokered talks begin in Geneva.
In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest says it is too early to say if the decision will impact the talks.
"We have talked about how Russia's continued military intervention to prop up the Assad regime made the efforts to reach a political transition, or to make a political transition, even more difficult, that, as long as Russia was aggressively weighing in militarily, they were removing at least part of the incentive for the regime to even engage in those kinds of conversations. So, I haven't seen the reports, so it's hard for me to assess at this point what sort of impact this will have on the talks, what kind of change this will bring about to that dynamic. So we'll have to see exactly what Russia's intentions are."
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the outbreak of violence in Syria.
Several attempts at ceasefires and peace talks have taken place since then.
The conflict has killed 250,000 people and displaced millions more.
Peace talks in Geneva two years ago collapsed after making no progress, but United Nations envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura says he hopes the outcome can be different this time.
"The public statements are going to be showing, as they've already done, that there is much distance between the sides, and distance, indeed, exists. Spoilers will try to upset the talks, by incidents, by whatever you will be seeing. Public rhetoric will try to cast iron preconditions, but this is a moment of truism -- and, hopefully, (a) proactive chance."
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