Putin
wants to preserve Syria – this is not about Russia-US relations
Putin sees the potential threat to Russia from Isis
as bigger and more urgent, because of the number of Russians (many of them
Chechens) thought to be fighting with Isis and the threat of jihadism in and
around Chechnya. Russia’s desire to combat Isis need not be seen as a pretext
for protecting Assad; the converse may rather be true. In Russia’s view, as
Putin set out at the UN, the Assad government is all that stands in the way of
complete victory for Isis and the de facto disappearance of the Syrian state.
For Putin, the priority is the preservation of the
Syrian state. He looks at Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, and sees western
interventions that have resulted in anarchy. He foresees the same for Syria if
the west sees toppling Assad, rather than combating Isis, as the priority.
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