Syria and Russia rekindle realpolitik romance fuelled by military and geopolitical ambitions

The nascent Syrian leadership now seeks to “redefine” ties with Russia as the Damascus‑Moscow axis has undergone a startling metamorphosis: Russia’s deadly firepower from the air saved the ruthless Assad regime from the brink of collapse, amid civil war in 2015, and then, flash-forward to 2024, as the brutal Syrian regime came crashing down, Moscow offered the ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad, and his family, a life-line and safe haven. And so, as Syria’s interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is meeting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow, for the first time since Assad’s abrupt downfall, Yinka Oyetade welcomes Thomas Pierret, Syria Specialist and Senior Researcher at CNRS’s IREMAM. He illustrates that while they may make strange bedfellows, this marriage of convenience is a veritable logic of survival.