“Russia will conduct the necessary work with Damascus and the legitimate Syrian leadership,” Mr. Putin said, while the United States will do the same with its allies and opposition groups. “I am sure the joint actions agreed upon with the American side will be enough to radically reverse the situation in Syria.”

There was more. Mr. Putin wanted to make clear that Russia’s intervention in Syria would avoid the kind of catastrophic collapse that occurred in Iraq, Libya and Yemen, lumped together improbably with the American-backed “color” revolutions in Ukraine in 2004 and Georgia in 2003. Syria, he said, could serve as an example of “responsible actions.”

Russia sent up to 50 combat aircraft to an air base near the coastal Syrian city of Latakia in September, along with more than 4,000 troops to protect them. In that move, Russia was seen as having five main goals: stopping regime change abetted from outside the country; thwarting plans by Washington to isolate Moscow; proving that Russia was a more solid ally than the United States; showcasing new Russian weapons; and presenting a new foreign policy spectacle to a Russian public weary of the war in neighboring Ukraine.

To some extent, all five goals have been achieved, prompting some voices to call for Russia to come home.

“We have clear achievements; the main thing is that everybody now speaks to us,” Boris B. Nadezhdin, a former member of the Duma, Russia’s Parliament, said on a popular talk show. “Assad’s regime, or Syria’s legitimate government, has stayed in power,” he added. “We need a political settlement, and to stop spending huge sums of money on an arms race.”