Anadolu Agency Energy Terminal quotes Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center Resident Senior Fellow Anders Aslund on Russia’s economy and whether it has the capacity to sustain a long-term intervention in Syria:
“The West will certainly not give up its sanctions against Russia because of this adventurism,” Anders Aslund, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told Anadolu Agency.
A war in Syria with modern arms is likely to be quite expensive for Russia, Aslund pointed out. Russia’s GDP is forecast to fall by at least 4 percent this year, he added.
Aslund said that Russians do not want to fight in the Middle East, as there is no clear way for the conflict to end. “Putin’s new Syria policy looks dangerous and may be outright destabilizing for Russia,” the expert said.