Professor Tsygankov Discusses Relations Between Russia, Syria

BUSINESS INSIDER -- The Russian military can “train” in Syria “for a long time without any serious harm to Russia’s budget,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his annual marathon press conference Thursday morning. And, contrary to President Barack Obama’s view that it’s only a matter of time before Russia gets bogged down in Syria, experts and military analysts tend to agree with Putin on this one. “The Kremlin is well-aware of the publicly perceived danger of getting bogged down in Syria,” Andrei Tsygankov, a professor of Russian and post-Soviet politics at San Francisco State University, told Business Insider on Friday. But, Tsygankov added, Putin’s comments on Thursday only reinforced Moscow’s “intention to stay the course.” “This means that those who expected Russia to get out of Syria within a few months will be disappointed, for the Syrian army is not near to winning the war,” he said.