Sep 25, 2014

Judging from recent statements by Russian officials, Moscow has decided to express cautious solidarity with Washington”s actions to fight against the terrorists of the Islamic State (IS), though there is no talk of any joint effort. Russia supported the latest UN Security Council resolution on the fight against terrorism. Yet, Moscow also continues to see the negative implications of the actions of the coalition led by the United States, bearing in mind that military force alone cannot defeat terrorism. Among those negative aspects is the prospect of an increase in terrorist recruits among those disgruntled with a new intervention by the West. The inevitable “collateral damage” among the civilian population will contribute to this.

Let me cite in this regard Daniel Serwer: “The airstrikes may be creating ungoverned spaces in which we have no means to prevent radicalization and haven for international terrorists.” Terrorist leaders are using the Internet to spread a lot of material, ominously predicting the defeat of the coalition that leads the fight against IS. They maintain that there is no way to defeat them with airstrikes. Addressing President Barack Obama, Sheikh Abu Muhammad ash-Shami asked: 'Have you not realized … that the battle cannot be decided from the air at all? Or do you think that you are smarter than Bush?'”

Moreover, Moscow opposes US missile attacks and airstrikes on Syria without the consent of the legitimate government in Damascus. The violation of Syrian sovereignty — no matter what motivates it — is a matter of concern for the Russian leadership. According to former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, “Not only is this in contravention of international law, but it also raises concerns that, by bypassing the UN Security Council, it would surreptitiously start the ‘bombing out’ of the regime in Damascus. In this regard, the arguments of the US side — expressed in a letter from the US permanent representative to the UN, Samantha Power, to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon — are not convincing: namely, that the Iraqi government had requested that the United States carry out strikes in Syria and that “the inability or unwillingness of Damascus to respond to the Islamist threat provides a sufficient basis to execute attacks on the territory of a sovereign state.”

According to an official statement of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sept. 23, to carry out missile attacks and airstrikes on Syria, a formal unilateral notification would be insufficient; instead, the explicit consent of the government of Syria, or the adoption of a relevant UN Security Council resolution, is required. President Vladimir Putin confirmed this position in a conversation with Ban.

Russian officials constantly point out that the victories of the terrorists in Iraq were made possible by the mistakes committed by the United States and its allies after the invasion of Iraq. As Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said, these mistakes were, first of all, the dissolution of the former army as a result of which Iraqi soldiers “fled their homes with guns, and then some of them joined terrorist groups.” And second, that Iraq has failed to create a really strong army: “We should have helped the Iraqis to establish a functioning and effective army long ago”; the old one should have been kept in place and “reinforced with new cadres.” This high-ranking Russian diplomat came to the conclusion that “Syria should not repeat the same mistake.”