Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs Uncertainty reigns over whether Russia can maintain control over its military bases in Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad which a lobbyist against Vladimir Putin has described as another geopolitical setback that has “humiliated” the Russian president.Moscow expended significant financial and political capital to keep Assad in power during the Syrian Civil War but its latest chapter in which rebel groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham seized Damascus has dealt a blow to Russia’s geopolitical influence.”This is a moment of humiliation for Putin,” political activist Bill Browder told Times Radio. “He put his resources behind Assad and now Assad has been humiliated and I think by extension, Putin has been humiliated.” Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment.Browder lobbied U.S. Congress to pass the Magnitsky Act to punish Russian human rights violators, named after his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, who died in Russian custody after exposing Russian corruption.
‘Humiliated’ Putin Faces String of Geopolitical Defeats
‘Humiliated’ Putin Faces String of Geopolitical Defeats
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As well as losing face, Putin also faces the loss of the Mediterranean port of Tartus and the Khmeimim, as well as other strategic assets in Syria. “Syria was absolutely the vital to the Russian Navy assets operating in the Mediterranean,” retired U.S. Vice Admiral Robert Murrett told Newsweek.At the expense of his relationship with Israel, Putin threw his weight behind Iran which has assisted his war in Ukraine. But Israeli bombardments have weakened Tehran as well as its allies in the Axis of Resistance—Lebanon’s Hezbollah. The Kremlin will fight to retain influence in Syria but the loss of its client state deals another blow to Putin.”The thing that’s absolutely key here is the fact that Syria borders have so many other countries that are important in terms of Russian relationships—not least Iraq, but also Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Turkey and so forth,” added Murrett, deputy director of the Syracuse University Institute for Security Policy and Law.ArmeniaIn describing Putin’s inability to help Assad in the way he did in 2016 when Russian bombardments of Aleppo kept him in power, Browder put the events in Syria within the context of Russia’s influence in other areas closer to its border. “He’s just basically out of firepower and it wasn’t just Syria,” Browder said. “He also abandoned Armenia, where he had a military presence and that fell to Azerbaijan.”Armenia’s economy is closely linked with Russia’s but its prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, said last week Yerevan would not restore relations with the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Moscow-led bloc considered an alternative to NATO.Armenia was angered by Moscow’s inaction when neighboring Azerbaijan launched an operation in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region which had hosted a majority ethnic Armenian population but recognized internationally as controlled by Baku.Romania, Moldova, Georgia, AbkhaziaBrowder also said Putin is having problems with countries in Moscow’s sphere that are not linked to military resources. “He lost the election in Moldova,” Browder told Times Radio, and “it looks like Romania didn’t work out the way he intended it to do.”Moldova’s pro-EU president Maia Sandu prevailed in an election campaign she claimed involved “unprecedented” interference by Moscow. Russia has denied claims of meddling in the electoral process there as well as in neighboring Romania, whose Constitutional Court nullified the first round won by far-right pro-Putin candidate Calin Georgescu.”Then there’s a big question on Georgia and then the final question of course is Ukraine,” Browder added. Georgia has been roiled by protests after the ruling Georgian Dream party said it would suspend talks on EU accession until 2028, outraging many in the South Caucasus country.”The upheaval in Georgia creates disorder in the country, which on its face certainly might seem like something that works to Putin’s advantage,” Michael Butler, political science professor at Clark University in Worcester (MA), told Newsweek.”However, I’d caution whether that is the correct reading of the situation. These massive street demonstrations reflect a major public rebuke of the Georgian Dream party, which is deeply tied to Russia politically and economically,” he added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Grand Kremlin Palace on December 9, 2024 in Moscow, Russia. The downfall of his ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria has dealt a blow to Russian influence in the Middle…
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Grand Kremlin Palace on December 9, 2024 in Moscow, Russia. The downfall of his ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria has dealt a blow to Russian influence in the Middle East.
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“The popular resistance we are seeing in Georgia represents a repudiation of those ties which, from a strategic standpoint, Putin wishes to preserve, and even expand, as a way of hollowing out Georgia from the inside,” he told Newsweek.In the south Caucasus country’s breakaway region of Abkhazia, protests prompted authorities to withdraw a bill which would have increased Russia’s presence. Aslan Bzhania submitted his resignation as leader of Abkhazia ahead of new elections.In an assessment sent to Newsweek last month, the International Crisis Group said the protests did not signal a move against Moscow, and were aimed at Bzhania, however the bill and the protests “indicate the potential for further unrest” which would bring with it a “real risk of more violence and instability.”
