Is Assad’s Syria a “win” for Moscow?

Russia’s current leaders may believe that public opinion—whether in Russia, the Middle East, or anywhere else—is unimportant and can be ignored, but over time it may prove a serious constraint on Moscow’s efforts to protect unpopular authoritarian regimes such as the one in Syria

Mark N. Katz

In the latter part of 2012 and the beginning of 2013, the Russian-backed Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad appeared increasingly vulnerable and likely to fall to a domestic insurgency. Yet Moscow continued to supply it with arms and shield it from Western- and Arab-backed sanctions in the United Nations Security Council.