“If you can wage a hybrid war, then why can’t you wage a hybrid peace? Say that you have withdrawn troops from Syria, greet the heroic pilots with bread and salt, and then continue to fight.
Why not stay? Telling everyone we left. Is this impossible? In Crimea, very polite people appeared in a similar hybrid way. They were either self-defense forces, or regular customers of Voentorg, and then turned into clear falcons and heroes of Russia. We have been fighting in Donbass for almost two years, but we do not formally recognize our participation in the war.
This experience also turned out to be valuable for the war in Syria. All the way we bombed not terrorists, but Assad’s opponents. So what? Just think, cards! Just think, photographs! Just think, witnesses! We say we are bombing terrorists, and you can say whatever you want."