Russian-Syrian Relations: Past and Present

© 2016, The Journal of Global Affairs is the official student research publication of the Department of International and Area Studies in the College of International Studies at the University of Oklahoma. Correspondence may be sent to: Journal of Global Affairs, C/O CIS/DIAS, 729 Elm Avenue, Hester Hall 150, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, United States of America. Email: jga@ou.edu.Drawing heavily on Andrej Kreutz’s Russia in the Middle East and Robert Freedman’s “Russia and the Arab Spring: A Preliminary Appraisal” along with numerous news sources, this essay serves a twofold purpose of sketching out a broad history of Russian-Syrian relations and of analyzing in depth Russia’s response to the recent conflict in Syria. The purpose of this essay is to update and synthesize a broad-butscattered literature on Russian-Syrian relations and to combine it with recent works examining the influence of Russia on the Syrian Civil War. The author ultimately asserts that for better or for worse Putin’s Russia has decided to risk significantly damaging the relationships it has built with the broader Arab world, Israel, and the West in order to maintain its strategic and historic ties to Iran and Syria, protect its economic interests in the Middle East, and hamper Western efforts to orchestrate Middle- Eastern politics.The Journal of Global Affairs is published in conjunction with the College of International Studies at the University of Oklahoma.undergraduat