Is Russia Returning To Its Superpower Status?

Al-Baath University students hold rally in support of Russia's military operation in Syria. © SPUTNIK/ DMITRIY VINOGRADOV

Emmanuel Grynszpan, World Crunch/Le Temps: Did Syria Intervention Return Russia To Superpower Status?

MOSCOW - Vladimir Putin's decision to withdraw the lion's share of Russia's troops from Syria might have come as a surprise, but insiders in Moscow say the timing makes perfect sense.

Many factors can explain why now. "Putin promised this operation would be limited in time and wouldn't lead to an Afghanistan-like stalemate," explains Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, who also notes that the coming hot weather and summer sand storms would reduce the efficiency of air attacks.

The Syrian operation carried a fundamentally new character for Moscow. "For the first time, the Russian military understood they could get results with the sole use of air power," Pukhov adds. "It's a revolution in the Russian mindframe, which until now mocked American or European interventions, because they thought victory was impossible without a ground intervention."

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WNU Editor: Russia is not the superpower that the Soviet Union was, not even close. The Soviet Union was a super power because of its economic base and its focus on the military, coupled with numerous alliances and political agreements/arrangements with other nations. Today .... the Russian economy is in recession, the military is a fraction of what it once was under the Soviet Union, and the old alliances are gone. And while it is true that the Syrian crisis has propelled Russia to be a major player in the Middle East .... it is only on Syria that their influence resides.