Vitaly Naumkin: Russian operation in Syria changes Middle East

Russian military operation in Syria drastically affected not only the role of the Russian Federation in the Middle East, but also changed the whole situation in the region, the director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the RAS, Vitaly Naumkin, told Vestnik Kavkaza on the sidelines of the international conference titled 'Russia and Turkey: strengthening of multi-faceted partnership'.

"I believe that two events carried out a radical turn in the development of the whole situation in the Middle East: the deal on Iran's nuclear program and the Russian military operation against IS and other terrorist groups in Syria. These are the key events for the changing of the geo-strategic situation in the Middle East," Naumkin stressed.

"And it's not just about Russia. Yes, Russia, as some say, has arrived in the Middle East. But it has never left it. It's not an intervention, we have not deployed troops, and we do not occupy foreign territories. We are present there legally, at the request of the government of Syria to help Syria to get rid of terrorists. We will leave when we complete this," he noted.

The director of the Institute of Oriental Studies said that the Russian operation in Syria was designed primarily to cleanse the country of terrorists, who threaten the security of the entire world, however the conflict in Syria will be resolved by political means. "As our president said, there will be no ground operation. It is about bombing, and 11 countries are carrying out air strikes without the permission of the local authorities," Naumkin stressed.

Also, speaking about security issues, the scientist also touched on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, stressing that the cooperation between Russia and Turkey in the South Caucasus manifests itself in this issue.

"As you know, Russia has been actively working to promote the plan of a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for many years, not only in the format of the Minsk Group, but also with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan. And Turkey is striving to solve the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh at the international level. So Moscow and Ankara act as partners in this area, because we cannot do without Turkey on this issue," Vitaly Naumkin concluded.