Russia is in trouble. Obviously, the Eurasian giant is not going through its best moment, this is not a surprise to anyone: the conflict in Ukraine, tensions with the West and NATO or their recent disagreements, which suggest that they will go further starting next year with Türkiye, keep Moscow on edge.
Well, to all those problems, now one more is added: the fall of the regime of Bashar Al-Assad, president of Syria for the last 25 years and that last Sunday he was overthrown by Islamic rebels.
As you all know, Russia and Syria have been great allies for decades – before Bashar, his father Háze Al-Assad ruled the country with an iron fist for 25 years. something that gave the Kremlin an incalculable benefiteven more so when it began to open military bases in Syrian territory, which gave it an ideal outlet to the Mediterranean.
In addition to this, Russia had a very close point of contact with NATO countries, being located just a few kilometers from the border with Europe. All this made Russia especially interested in the Al-Assad family will not stop ruling in Syria.
However, with the fall of the Syrian regime, Russia has lost much more than a geopolitical ally. It has also lost its naval bases in the city of Tartus, on the shores of the Mediterranean. This city had been key to naval supply and maintenance for Moscow for five decades, in addition to be the perfect place to refuel your in the Mediterranean.
In fact, on December 3, some military analysts raised the alarm when they found that Russia was withdrawing part of its fleet from the port city, although Moscow claimed that these were routine maneuvers. However, kyiv also supported the theory, stating that Moscow had “withdrawn its warships” in Tartu.
Finally, and after the news of Bachar Al-Assad’s flight to Russia became known, it was confirmed that the Kremlin had lost the air and naval base in the town, in a “potentially large strategic setback” added to the humiliation “of having demonstrated weakness”. All of these were statements by Edwards Lucas, senior researcher at the Center for European Policy Analysis.
“Maybe they can keep something under the new regime, but most likely they will have to give up the only real Russian bases that are not contiguous to Russia,” he said. And this represents a serious setback for Russia, which to reach Syria has to necessarily pass through the Black Sea, Turkey and the Bosphorus, so all its aspirations in the Mediterranean They have to have the approval of the Turkish president, Erdogan.
