Putin Gives Up On Syria - Announces full withdrawal

[Holac]

MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Monday ordered the withdrawal of the “main part” of Russian forces in Syria, a surprise move that he said was justified by the “overall completion” of Moscow’s military mission in the war-ravaged country.

 

Mr. Putin’s order, reported by the state news media, came as the war in Syria was about to enter its sixth year and a United Nations mediator was trying to revive peace talks to stop the conflict, which has displaced millions and created a humanitarian catastrophe.

 

Russia has operated a naval base on the Syrian coast since the Soviet period, but Mr. Putin’s order seemed to relate to warplanes operating from a new air base in Latakia that since September have carried out intensive bombings against rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. Mr. Putin said the withdrawal would not mean the closing of the Latakia base.

 

Since Russian warplanes began their campaign on Sept. 30, Mr. Assad has gained ground against rebel forces and headed off the risk that his regime, Russia’s closest ally in the Middle East, might collapse.

 

“I believe, that the tasks put before the defense ministry have been completed over all,” Mr. Putin told Defense Minister Sergei K. Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov at a meeting in the Kremlin on Monday evening. “Because of this, I have ordered that from tomorrow the main part of our military groups will begin their withdrawal from the Syrian Arab Republic.”

 

The Kremlin said Mr. Putin had telephoned the Syrian president to inform him of the Russian withdrawal, but gave no details of Mr. Assad’s reaction to the move, saying only that he had expressed thanks for Russia’s help and had praised the “professionalism and heroism” of Russian servicemen.

 

“The leaders noted that the actions of the Russian air forces have allowed a significant turn in the fight against terrorists,” a statement on the Kremlin website said.

 

Russia’s military intervention in Syria, which involved the deployment of 45 strategic and tactical bombers as well as fighter planes, helicopters and antiaircraft systems, was Moscow’s first such action outside the former Soviet Union since the collapse of communism in 1991.

 

The state-controlled news media in Russia trumpeted the intervention as a sign that Moscow had recovered its role as a global military power. Television news broadcasters, after weeks of hailing the operation daily, seemed stunned Monday evening when news of the withdrawal first broke.

 

Russian warplanes gave a major boost to Mr. Assad’s fading military fortunes, flying more than 9,000 sorties and helping the Syrian government regain control of 400 settlements, according to Mr. Shoigu, the Russian defense minister.

 

The decision to withdraw, announced as abruptly as Russia’s initial decision to intervene, could allow Mr. Putin to avoid the risk that what has been a relatively painless and, in both military and public relations terms, highly successful mission for Russia could turn into a quagmire costly in lives, money and political capital for the Kremlin.

 

Mr. Putin’s announcement appeared to catch the United States and other Western countries by surprise.

 

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COMMENTS

Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said he had not seen reports of Russia’s possible withdrawal from Syria, but the Obama administration has frequently expressed frustration with Russia’s continued military support for Mr. Assad, whom the Americans have long insisted should step down.

 

“Obviously, we have talked about how Russia’s continued military intervention to prop up the Assad regime made the efforts to make a political transition increasingly more difficult,” Mr. Earnest said.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/world/middleeast/putin-syria-russia-withdrawal.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

[Holac]

What went wrong Vlad? Obama is a thinker. He warned everyone that Putin's action is unsustainable. Everyone called him weak for saying that.

[Che -Guevara]

Waa bariga dexe.

[xabad]

This is clearly meant to send a sign to the chinless despot who was feeling himself too much of late thanks to the Russian air campaign. Come to the negotiating table and make concessions or we will abandon you to the Sunni wolves.

 

Holac, your far too excitable...a typical Somali trait. Putin is not withdrawing all his troops, the infrastructure is there and they can come back at a moment's notice.

This is political posturing, he wants to be seen a statesmanly and responsible actor. The was choreographed in advance.

 

 

 

 

 

[Gheelle.T]

Maintaining Air campaign for too long became too expensive for Putin, I guess. And despite the air superiority that was given to Asad, he seems to be short in men to hold territories. IS hasn't budged a bit and still controls majority of the land it did before the air strikes begun. In fact any grounds lost by them were to the Kurds.

 

I think the Russians are throwing their baby boy under the bus and want to negotiate the partition of Syria into 3 fiefdoms. Maintain the whatever left of Syria with Alawites, Christians, and other minorities on one side, Kurds to have their own, and let the Sunni world deal with the broken parts. After all, the Sunnis are ones created all of this mess to begin with.

[Holac]

@xabad

said:

Putin is not withdrawing all his troops, the infrastructure is there and they can come back at a moment's notice. This is political posturing, he wants to be seen a statesmanly and responsible actor. The was choreographed in advance.

 

Try again Xabad.

[xabad]

 

 

Putin is a wily guy. He is showing he’s a statesman. Russia is also sending a message to Assad who has been sounding too confident.

 

Joshua Landis

 

 

 

 

 

We Can Always Come Back

 

Departing Russians

 

 

Vladimir Putin is withdrawing Russian military forces from Syria. At least, that’s the spin. What Putin is actually doing is withdrawing

some of his forces

— bomber-aircraft squadrons, for example —

while retaining his military infrastructure (air bases, port facilities, etc.) in Syria

. This allows the Russian leader both a pretense of diplomacy and retention of significant military power: gun-based power that equals political power. Putin understands that Western intelligence services know that,

within a matter of days, he could re-flood Syria with Russian forces

.