War against isolation

What are the genuine reasons for the sudden withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria, ”the New Times found out

On March 15, according to yesterday’s order of President Vladimir Putin, Russia began to withdraw the bulk of the group of its troops from Syria. This decision was made after the establishment of a shaky truce in the conflict and against the background of negotiations in Geneva about the future fate of a long -suffering country. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has already reported on the departure of some Russian aircraft to the places of their constant deployment. “The Leader group is the Tu -154 aircraft, as well as the Su -34 multifunctional bombers,” the military department said.

The withdrawal of troops from the Khmeimim air base in Syria. Photo: Ministry of Defense

I decided myself
By announcing the withdrawal of troops, the Russian President stated that the task assigned to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was completed, while noting that the Russian military bases in Syria will function in the same mode and should be reliably protected from land, from the sea and air. During a meeting with the President, Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu spoke about the successes achieved, saying that the terrorists have been replaced from Latakia, a message from Aleppo was restored, the militants were continuing in Palmyra, the Caourires were released. At the same time, Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, state secretary Nikolai Pankov, during his speech before the contingent at the Syrian air base, Khmeimim said that the Russian troops remaining in Syria will continue to apply air strikes on the objects of terrorists.
The press secretary of the head of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that Vladimir Putin gave the order to withdraw part of the military contingent without the intervention of foreign politicians. “This is the decision of the President of Russia and the Commander -in -Chief on the basis of data based on the results of the Russian contingent in Syria,” the official said. Moscow also stated that Putin agreed on this step with the Syrian leader. Peskov denied the version that Russia is thus trying to put pressure on Assad.
Rinse in time
“Although no one expected such a sharp step from Putin, there were many prerequisites for him,” Military Expert Alexander Golts told NT, “I can assume that the decision was made right now because of the desire to quickly take advantage of the chance to get the military after the start of the Arrival and before a possible disruption of negotiations in Geneva.”
According to Golts, there are several reasons for the withdrawal of troops. Firstly, Russia was too close to a military confrontation with the country of the North Atlantic bloc-Turkey. Such a situation was able to avoid even during the Cold War of the last century. The input of the Turkish troops into the territory of Syria would mean the inevitable involvement of Russia in a ground operation. After all, it would be impossible to protect the air base by the forces of the battalion-tactical group. In addition, the issue of supplying the Russian group would be very acute. In the event of the closing of the straits, transport ships would have to lead through the Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea controlled by the sixth fleet of the United States. Secondly, it should be borne in mind that war requires large expenses that obviously did not fit into the budget of the Ministry of Defense, which is planned to be cut by 10 percent. And with a poor scenario of the development of events, this conflict would become an order of magnitude more expensive.

Is the task completed?
However, the main reason for the withdrawal of troops, Golts called the successful solution to the main task of the operation. “The most interesting thing was achieved by foreign policy goals,” the expert said, “because the introduction of troops, in my opinion, was not the support of Assad or the fight against terrorism, but an attempt to get out of the international isolation in which the country was as a result of actions in Ukraine. In fact, the Russian side forced the United States to the dialogue, albeit through the teeth. Data exchange, contacts and even certain military cooperation occurs. Kerry calls Lavrov a day later, and Putin holds almost international telephone conferences. The question is how long this situation will last. But this will now be decided not in Syria. ”
According to the NT source in Syria itself, citizens of the country are in shock and horror. “The Syrian army does not control the majority of the Turkish -Syrian checkpoint at the turn of the countries, which means that militants will be able to continue to cross the border,” the Syrian interlocutor explained.