- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Give Peace a Chance: Russia Has Changed the Course of the Syrian War

© Sputnik / Dmitriy Vinogradov / Go to the mediabankRussian military aviation at Hmeymim airbase in Syria
Russian military aviation at Hmeymim airbase in Syria - Sputnik International
Subscribe
Russia’s aerial campaign in Syria has changed the course of the five-year conflict and Moscow’s decision to withdraw its Air Force units from Syria now that the process of a peaceful settlement has been started fully reflects the open-hearted nature of Russia’s position, several leading political scientists told RIA Novosti.

Migrants wade across a river near the Greek-Macedonian border, west of the the village of Idomeni, Greece, March 14, 2016 - Sputnik International
Russian Withdrawal From Syria May Reduce Refugee Influx In Europe - Juncker
Konstantin Kostin, director of the Civil Society Development Foundation, said that the events of the past few weeks had proved the efficiency of the Russian-proposed peace roadmap for Syria and underscored the efficacy of Moscow’s military campaign there.

“We all remember that the Russian pullout was preceded by the start of a political settlement process and a ceasefire… It is against this particular background that I would like to talk about the Russian military withdrawal from Syria,” Konstantin Kostin noted.

Dmitry Badovsky, the head of the Institute of Socio-Political Studies in Moscow, said that Russian intervention in the Syrian conflict reversed the course of the war.

“I see Russia’s aerial campaign of the past five months in Syria as the ultimate example of the use of the so-called ‘smart force,’" he said, adding that it had come after months of Western inactivity and lip service paid to the need to root out the scourge of terrorism.

To this Konstantin Kostin added that Russia had helped kick-start the process of a political settlement in Syria.

“Speaking of regional security, we now have everything we need to move towards a lasting peace in Syria, especially now that they are going to hold elections there about a month from now,” he said.

When asked about the way the decision to withdraw the Russian Air Force units from Syria could reflect on Russia’s relations with the West, Konstantin Kostin said that it spoke volumes about the open-hearted nature of Moscow’s policy.

“Russia has always said that our ultimate goal is to fight terrorists and ensure a political solution to the Syrian crisis,” Kostin noted, adding that the order to bring the Russian military contingent back home coincided with the start of the much-awaited process of a political settlement of the five-year-old civil war in Syria.

On March 14 President Vladimir Putin announced his decision to  start withdrawing Russia’s main forces in Syria, saying that the military campaign had largely achieved its objectives.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала