Translated material
Bloomberg: the initiators of military intervention in Syria were Ivanov, Patrushev and Shoigu
The idea of a military campaign in Syria was proposed by the head of the presidential administration Sergei Ivanov, Minister of Defense Sergey Shoigu and the head of the Council of People's Commissars Nikolai Patrushev. It is reported by Bloomberg with reference to senior Russian officials.
The proposal received in the summer when the regime of the Syrian dictator Bashar al -Assad suffered serious defeats, the agency’s sources note. President Vladimir Putin saw in the plan proposed to him not only the opportunity to support at least temporarily his last ally in the Middle East, but also a way to get out of the isolation in which he ended up after the start of aggression in Ukraine.
In addition, in case of luck, the operation would prove that Russia can succeed where the United States and its allies could not do anything, sources note. This, according to Putin, would help restore the role of Russia as a world power.
Russian officials told the agency that a large -scale operation is planned a few months. At the same time, the military presence in Syria will last much longer. The interlocutors admitted that Moscow is at a very great risk.
The first messages about the transfer of Russian troops to Syria appeared in early September. Bulgaria, Greece and Ukraine closed their airspace for Russian transport aircraft. However, Russia took advantage of the transport corridors of Iran and Iraq.
On Monday, Putin, in his speech at the Session of the UN General Assembly in New York, called on the world community to support the Assad regime . The Russian leader called the refusal to cooperate with him "a big mistake." According to Putin, only the “Kurdish militia” confronts the “Islamic state” in Syria in addition to the Assad regime, but not a moderate opposition supported by the West. Moreover, Putin once again stated that the Syrian moderate are handing over to the IG units weapons, and they themselves go over to the side of the Islamists.
On Wednesday, the Federation Council unanimously allowed the use of Russian armed forces in Syria . On the same day, Russian aviation inflicted the first blows to the positions of Assad’s opponents.
On Thursday, the head of the Foreign Ministry, Sergei Lavrov, said that Russia was fighting in Syria not only with the Islamic State, but also with other terrorist groups . “Russia is fighting in Syria not only with ISIS, but also with other terrorist groups,” he said at a press conference in New York. “We consider those groups that were recognized as such the UN and Russian Federation Security Terrorists.”
At the same time, the minister noted that the Syrian Liberation Army that the United States supports them. "We believe that the Syrian Liberation Army should be part of the political process along with other armed groups. This is necessary in order to ensure a stable negotiation process of political settlement," Lavrov said.