Russia and Syria: bound together in a mission that is far from accomplished

By Scott Lucas, Professor of International Politics, University of Birmingham

All the standard public relations ploys were in evidence for the recent meeting between Syria’s leader Bashar al-Assad and Russian envoy Alexander Lavrentiev in Damascus. More than 230 officials from 30 federal executive bodies, five Russian regions, and the Russian defence ministry had trekked to the Syrian capital. There were 15 agreements and memorandums on “key areas of Russian-Syrian cooperation”. The return of refugees from neighbouring countries was said to be a “national…

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