Russian military's performance prevented the breakup of the Syrian state, and a civil war has been practically stopped, Russia's Defense minister Sergei Shoigu said today in the State Duma.
"The breakup of the Syrian state has been prevented, a civil war and attempts to change the legitimate authority have been practically stopped," Interfax cited Shoigu as saying.
Vestnik Kavkaza asked the experts whether the war between Damascus and the opposition is nearing completion and what may stop it completely.
The president of the International Association of Veterans of the Alpha Anti-Terrorism Unit, Sergey Goncharov, agreed that indeed, Russia has radically changed the situation in Syria, making the most important thing at the moment - put an end to the serious problems. "Yes, there are some spontaneous clashes, but of course, it is different from what it was before. There is a lot of truth in the fact that Russia has taken the courage and put an end to a protracted war in Syria," he said.
However, according to the expert, we cannot say that the war will stop at all in the near or foreseeable future: the problem still exists, and it should be solved.
The editor-in-chief of the newspaper 'Journalistic Truth', Vladislav Shurigin, pointed out that Russia's interference has prevented the full breakup of Syria. "It is an axiom that requires no proof. Of course, only our participation has brought the situation of deadlock, including through negotiations on the level of foreign ministers. Therefore, of course, we can say that we have played a stabilizing role," the expert pointed out.
A military observer of the TASS news agency, retired Colonel Viktor Litovkin, said that regardless of whether the situation in Syria is close to reconciliation or not, in any case, today it is much better than two or three years ago. The expert found it difficult to predict when and how this will end. "I'm not going to be a prophet, or read tea leaves, because it a very difficult task to reconcile the warring parties in the Arab East," he said.
Litovkin stressed that the intervention of Russia's air forces has helped preventing the collapse of the Syrian state and defend Syria from terrorists and their supporters, as well as curators from the West. According to him, now fighting are under way in the first place against members of terrorist organizations and not against the political opposition, because the real opposition is fragmented and is rather emigrated Syrians.
