VCIOM published the results of a public opinion poll which tried to find out the attitude of Russian citizens to the decision on withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria. It turns out that 76 percent of respondents are following the situation in Syria to this or that extent; 24 percent of respondents do it regularly.
84 percent of people approved the decision on withdrawal of a part of the Russian military contingent from the country. 64 percent of respondents are sure that it is the right moment to withdraw the troops. 8 percent of people believe the decision is overdone, while 13 percent think it is late.
61 percent of respondents think the main reason for the withdrawal is that all the goals of the Russian Air Forces have been achieved. 50 percent of people believe that if the situation in Syria becomes worse again, and the talks on a peaceful settlement fail, Russia must return to Syria and start a new military operation. 28 percent of citizens do not agree with that; 22 percent didn’t answer the question.
Meanwhile, Mikhail Magid, a historian, orientalist, culturologist, thinks that the war in Syria hasn’t led to the popularity of the Russian authorities, but it is connected with great risks: “London's Royal Institute for Strategic Studies cited figures that up to 8 million dollars a day were spent on the war by Russia. Our official figures are much lower. However, the fact is that these are very serious expenditures in a period of severe economic crisis. This situation is not very profitable itself,” Magid said.
According to him, there are also military and political risks: “The threat of being involved in this war appeared; we could have been involved in some new Afghanistan or something like that. I'm not saying that this would certainly happen, but there was such a threat, a risk. There was the risk of a major war with Turkey. We can argue whether this was a real threat, but clearly we have come to such a possibility. And it turns out that the benefits of this war are small and the risks are high for Russia. And, in my opinion, first of all, I related the decision to withdraw the troops with these factors.”
Mikhail Magid assumes that Russia, by withdrawing some but not all of the troops and not immediately, wants to have some influence, pressure on Bashar Assad, to obtain certain concessions, because he takes a very strict position on the issues related to the negotiations: “Perhaps, indeed, they want to get some concessions from him in the context of the future of the Syrian separation as it was in Bosnia. And the withdrawal of the troops will take place, depending on how Assad is compliant. That is, how many of them will be withdrawn, and how fast, will depend on the position of Assad. The idea of the withdrawal is grounded in a desire to reduce the financial risks for Russia, but not to leave Syria completely, somehow to continue to influence the situation, and even use the withdrawal of troops for an additional effect on what's going on.”
