“We are not talking about achieving some foreign policy goals, satisfying someone’s ambitions — what our Western partners regularly accuse us of.”
– ‘Hide your sons’ –
But many analysts accused the Kremlin of a short-sighted approach.
Alexander Konovalov, head of the Strategic Analysis Institute, said Russia was guided by a desire to end its diplomatic isolation and may not fully realise long-term consequences of a military involvement in Syria.
“We were coming to Afghanistan for six months and stayed there for 10 years,” he told AFP, referring to a conflict that killed over 14,000 Soviet troops between 1979 and 1989.
According to a recent poll by the respected Levada Centre, 69 percent of Russians are against Moscow’s deployment of troops in Syria, with just 14 percent in favour.
Wednesday’s news set social networks alight, with many commentators predicting dire consequences for Russians.
“Hide your sons,” one Russian, Zaira Abdullaeva, wrote on Facebook.
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