Russia & Syria

Has President Vladimir Putin fallen out with President Bashar al-Assad?

After yesterdays [Monday 14-Mar-2016] shock announcement that V P has ordered his troops out of Syria with the statement that Russia has achieved it's objectives, I have to wonder what happened to the land grab programme which started with Crimea. Maybe I got it wrong?

The two leaders agreed that the actions of Russia's Air Force in Syria have allowed them to "profoundly reverse the situation" in connection to fighting terrorists in the region, having "disorganized militants' infrastructure and inflicted fundamental damage upon them." As reported by Russia Today.

Moscow launched its anti-terror campaign in Syria on 30-Sep-2016. Russia’s participation in the operation, according to a previous statement by Vladimir Putin, has its basis in international law and has been conducted “in accordance with an official request from the president of the Syrian Arab Republic [Bashar al-Assad].” I was convinced it was part of the land grab programme as I suspected Vladimir Putin did not care who was in charge of Syria after the battle had been won as long as it was his man.

This action has happened very quickly after a statement by Bashar al-Assad saying he will take back all of Syria using military might, is this the clinching remark that has moved Russia to leave?

The Geneva talks are the first in more than two years and come amid a marked reduction in fighting after last month's "cessation of hostilities," sponsored by Washington and Moscow and accepted by Assad's government and many of his foes. This announcement came just hours after peace talks between the Syrian government and the opposition got under way in the Swiss city of Geneva on Monday.

It seems to me that yesterdays activities have happened too quickly considering the Syrian conflit has been raging for more than five years and Vladimir Putin has decided to move out because Bashar al-Assad is not close to leaving or falling.