Russia’s President Vladimir Putin announced in a surprise move this week that he would begin pulling troops out of Syria, saying his mission in the country had been accomplished.
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Russian Federation will, however, keep a contingent at its air and naval bases in Syria and a senior official said strikes against “terrorist targets” would continue.
And even if Russian Federation does quicken the pace of its military withdrawal from Syria, it still will maintain an airbase in Latakia province, as well as a presence at the key port of Tartous, allowing Putin to quickly ramp up Moscow’s military presence.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Pentagon has seen fewer than 10 Russian aircraft leave Syria, Cook said, without getting into a more specific number.
She described the mood at United Nations headquarters in Geneva on Tuesday, the second day of talks, as “not full optimism, but a feeling of momentum, of a commitment”.
“I think we did it to show the Americans that we do not have military ambitions and don’t need unnecessary wars”, said Ivan Konovalov, director of the Center for Strategic Trend Studies in Moscow. Moscow says it has been targeting terrorists, including IS. “It’s clear that the pullout of Russian forces will weaken the position of Bashar al-Assad in the future talks with the opposition”.
He said that, if Russian Federation was to “carry out a full withdrawal” it would “certainly change the balance of power and military advantage on the ground in a very significant way”. “The infrastructure that’s behind it, the air defense systems, like the S400 missile system, that’s going to remain”.
The United States estimates there were between 3,000 and 6,000 Russian troops in Syria before the beginning of the current drawdown.
Putin sent fighter jets and other assets to Syria to prop up his ally, President Bashar Assad, whose attacks on his own people sparked the civil war that marked its fifth anniversary on Tuesday.
If they make progress, Syria’s main opposition group told AFP Tuesday it would be ready to negotiate in the same room with the regime instead of via a mediator.
During a meeting in the Kremlin with his ministers, Mr Putin said the forces should withdraw because they have largely achieved their aim.
“We must verify the nature of this decision and its meaning”, Salem al-Meslet, spokesman for the opposition High Negotiations Committee told reporters in Geneva.
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Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011.
