FROM RUSSIA'S MILITARY DEPLOYMENT IN SYRIA TO THE ASTANA PROCESS

Abstract

The Russian stance on Syria is determined by the interplay of complex factors. First of all, Russian military deployment in this country should be considered as a serious attempt undertaken by Moscow to reclaim its status as an influential regional power. At a certain stage, Russia's growing security concerns also started to shape the Kremlin's approach towards the Syrian conflict. By 2015, the Kremlin was worried that the fall of Asad would inevitably bring radical Islamists to power in Syria. This, in turn, could lead to the further destabilization of the situation in the Middle East, inevitably affecting the Muslim regions of Russia. Finally, the unprecedented (since, at least, 1991) scale of the current tensions between Russia and the US/EU has meant that Moscow saw its diplomacy in the Middle East as another means that could be used in the confrontation with the West to exercise additional pressure on the US and EU when necessary.