What on earth is Russian President Vladimir Putin doing in Syria and why did he send his troops to fight and defend the brutal and bloody regime of Syria's Bashar Al-Assad? These are very serious and perplexing questions. Russia's proxy war in Ukraine has brought President Vladimir Putin a lot of trouble; from sanctions that have damaged the Russian economy to awkward questions from mothers of soldiers killed in a conflict they are not officially fighting. But the Kremlin's latest gambit as it seeks an exit strategy in Ukraine is both bold and baffling. Doubling down on one secret war in Ukraine, the Kremlin has begun a second one — in Syria. Putin's plan is to place Russia at the center of any Syrian settlement, an attempt to re-create the Soviet Union's crucial role in the region a generation ago. Publicly, the Kremlin has been promoting the idea of creating a broad international coalition to fight Daesh (So-called IS). But privately, "the Russians are trying to drum up some kind of support, any kind of support, for Assad to hold on to power," says one senior European diplomat who has been working with Syria for over a decade. "But it's a nonstarter. It's pretty clear how the Syrian war will end. There will be some kind of rump Alawistan around Latakia ruled by former Baathists close to Assad, but certainly not Assad himself. "The Kurds will have a self-governing area in the north, though the Turks will hate that. And the rest of the Sunni opposition, hopefully with the Daesh group droned and bombed out of existence, will be left to cobble together some kind of government in Damascus." Putin clearly has high hopes. He is hoping that engagement in Syria will help break Russia's international isolation after the annexation of Crimea and enable the Kremlin to disengage from eastern Ukraine with pride intact. In short, Putin wants to make Russia a respected member of the world community once again.
