THE OBJECTIVES RUSSIA'S MILITARY INTERVENTION SYRIA

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.