Abstract:
There has been much speculation about Russia's motives for intervening
in Syria in September 2015. Certainly, Russia's direct military
intervention the Syrian civil war was a foreign policy objective in
order to shore up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian
regime, Moscow's ally since the Cold War period, and keep Syria
together a unified state and maintain the Russian foothold in the
Middle East. We argue that Russia projected force beyond its periphery
to confirm Russia's status as a great power and return it to its rightful
place among the world powers. Russia's status aspirations led the
Kremlin to undertake risky policy manoeuvring, like the annexation
the Crimea and the military campaign in Syria. President Vladimir Putin
wanted to pursue multipolarity; that is, a long-term strategy in which
interstate relations should be based upon international law, mutual
respect and equal partnership, with a proper role for Russia in global
politics. The Kremlin still considers that fighting international terrorism,
religious fanaticism and separatism are internal and external threats that
undermine Russia's national security and global security.
