At first, incomplete and fragmentary data on the situation came from Palmyra. Now the picture is more or less clearer. Some sources claimed that intelligence missed the regrouping and concentration of militants for the assault on Palmyra. This is not entirely true. It turned out that the necessary information was nevertheless provided to the Syrian command.
However, what happened next was something that no one could have foreseen: units of the regular Syrian army, at the first shots from the militants, panicked, abandoning their weapons and military equipment, and fled from Tadmor (Palmyra). The valiant Syrian warriors rushed so hard that they were hardly stopped far to the west of Palmyra, on the approaches to the T4 airbase (At-Tiyas).
It was initially reported that there were no Russian military advisers in Palmyra. This is wrong. “ISIS” (militants of a terrorist group banned in Russia) even published on their websites photographs of property left behind by the Russians.
The number of the Russian contingent was just over 200 people (control group), plus a security group - 120 special forces. They remained in Palmyra, almost single-handedly defending the city for some time. As a result, the fighters were surrounded by superior enemy forces. To get them out of Palmyra, they had to cut down a special corridor. Russian aviation destroyed 11 jihadist armored vehicles. The Russians had to abandon some of their property (mainly logistics).
Ahead of everyone in the panic of the retreating Syrian units ran the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Syrian Armed Forces.
Behind him, in complete confusion, carrying with them ordinary soldiers and junior commanders, ran the head of the main operational directorate of the Syrian General Staff, the commander of the missile forces and artillery of the Syrian army, the commander and headquarters of the 3rd Army Corps, the commander of the 18th Tank Division.
The Deputy Chief of the General Staff was found with difficulty two days later. Such behavior of representatives of the Syrian high command cannot be explained by anything other than elementary cowardice. With difficulty, it was possible to detain the alarmists and cowards, bring the Syrian army units to their senses and return them to their positions by the morning of December 11, stabilizing the situation. But then the Syrians fled again.
Near Palmyra, complete chaos reigned in the units of the Syrian army. According to interlocutors familiar with the course of the Syrian campaign, Bashar al-Assad agreed with the Russian assessment of the actions of the Syrian military. The defecting deputy chief of the Syrian General Staff has already been removed from his post and dismissed from military service.
At the same time, during the assault, the official authorities in Damascus stubbornly told the population how heroically, not sparing blood and life itself, the Syrian army defends Palmyra.
Syrian soldiers are simply terribly afraid of jihad mobiles. There is no certainty that they will hold out in new positions west of Palmyra. Sometimes they say that militants near Palmyra captured some gas fields. In fact, they have long been destroyed and are of no value.
It was, of course, impossible to keep Palmyra under such conditions. Is it worth fighting her off now? So far, apparently, there are no such plans. Taking Palmyra back with air support will not be difficult, but keeping it in the future with this level of combat capability of the Syrian army is impossible.
Having redeployed combat-ready units from Aleppo to Palmyra, there is a risk of losing this city too. There, the reincarnation of defeated and retreating armed formations is quite possible. Now the activity of large detachments of jihadists is noticeable northwest of Aleppo, in the area of the settlements of Anadan, Hayyan and Hraytan.
On the part of the pro-government forces, it is primarily the militia that fights. There are only two units from the regular Syrian army: the special forces of Colonel Hassan Suheil (Tiger Force) and the Desert Falcons unit of the brothers Mohammed and Aymen Jaber.
The rest of the pro-government formations, according to interlocutors familiar with the course of the operation, are doing harm and are openly inactive.
Prior to this, all forces involved in the operation, following agreements with the militants, observed a “regime of silence” for 24 hours. The Russian Center for Reconciliation of Warring Parties has prepared the withdrawal of illegal armed groups from the city through a special corridor to the west, in the Salah ad-Din quarter and further along the Castello road in the direction of Idlib.
Here it is necessary to make a reservation that there are numerous foreign instructors, including Turkish ones, in Eastern Aleppo. They have been driven into a corner and are not allowed out of the blockaded areas.
The day before, the terrorists announced that the remaining 2.5 thousand militants were ready to leave Aleppo. The fire was stopped. 14 buses arrived. Direct communication was organized with the commanders of terrorist detachments and even with Ankara. The empty transport was kept until 21.00. At 2.00 the militants offered to take away 36 wounded from them. They were told: either everyone comes out, or no one comes out. As a result, military operations began to finish off the terrorists.
Most likely, after the clearing of Aleppo, perhaps on Thursday, an Agreement on overcoming the crisis in Syria will be signed in one of the capitals of the states neighboring Russia. A complete ceasefire will be announced by the end of the week. Then there is a plan to organize a constitutional assembly in Syria.
Many of the combatants, including commanders of moderate opposition armed units, want to move in this direction. It's time to move the process into negotiations: create a special group and deal with issues of political settlement, step by step: a new constitution, conditions and terms of elections.
All Western politicians and the media are most dissatisfied with the fact that Russia has brought closer a peaceful resolution to the Syrian crisis without the participation of the United States, Europe and even the UN. That is why they are trying to tell and demonstrate pseudo-horrors about the supposed humanitarian catastrophe in Aleppo.
As for the negotiating group in Geneva, it is absolutely unclear to Russian military specialists who is negotiating there, with whom and in what time frame. It is only clear that, having seen the obvious progress in achieving a peaceful settlement in Syria without the participation of Geneva experts, indignation began there, and now in Geneva they already want to negotiate with Bashar al-Assad.
At the same time, Russian experts also expressed the view that Bashar should be replaced with a more capable leader, capable of establishing order in the country and the armed forces.
But there is also an understanding that if you touch Assad now, everything in Syria will crumble and fall apart. This will really be the last day of the country. First of all, the president’s immediate circle will flee, then the rest of the officials and military personnel. So far, there is objectively no replacement for Assad. To paraphrase Stalin, we can say: “I have no other presidents of Syria for you.”
Now the main tasks look like this: finish off the remnants of militants in Aleppo, form combat-ready units to hold government-controlled territories, sign a ceasefire agreement and wind down active hostilities. After all, one cannot be more Syrian than the Syrians themselves.
Mikhail Khodarenok/facebook.com
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru, a retired colonel.
Graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976),
Military Command Academy of Air Defense (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior officer of the main headquarters of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduate of the Military Academy (1998).
Columnist "" (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Military-Industrial Courier" (2010-2015).
Victor Vladimirov. An investigative team from the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) has released the names of Russians killed in an airstrike by the US-led international anti-terrorism coalition on February 7, media reported on Monday. These are Alexey Ladygin (Ryazan), Vladimir Loginov (Khabarovsk), Stanislav Matveev and Igor Kosoturov (both from the city of Asbest, Sverdlovsk region. According to Mediazona, Kirill Ananyev, an activist of the unregistered Other Russia party, also died during the shelling.
Previously, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that there were no Russian citizens in the strike zone, and reported that Syrian militiamen who acted without coordination with the Russian military were wounded during the incident.
All of the listed dead were allegedly part of the notorious private military company Wagner PMC. Moreover, at least two of them previously fought on the side of pro-Russian separatists in the Ukrainian Donbass.
The figures disseminated in the media and social networks about the “Wagnerites” killed in Syria vary greatly. CNN, citing the commander of the Kurdish units, reports that on February 7, about 200 mercenaries were killed. Former Minister of Defense of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Igor Girkin (Strelkov) wrote on his VKontakte page about “hundreds” of casualties among PMCs.
In Moscow, near the building of the Ministry of Defense on Sunday, a series of single pickets were held against Russia’s participation in the military campaign in Syria. The picketers held posters with sharp anti-war slogans and criticism of the Russian authorities.
As the media note, until now, three days after the incident, the Russian authorities have not responded to reports of the death of “possibly dozens of Russian citizens.”
According to American and Kurdish sources, the strike in the Deir ez-Zor area was carried out against pro-government forces advancing on the positions of the allies of the international coalition from the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces). As the Pentagon press service stated, coalition representatives regularly communicated with Russian colleagues “before, during and after the attack.”
The Washington Post last Friday called the "fatal clash" between US forces and Russian militias in Syria an "ominous omen."
According to an independent military analyst Alexandra Goltsa , the silence of the Russian authorities in connection with the tragedy indicates that they do not know what to say in this situation.
“Because she is not just bad, she is monstrous,” he stated in an interview with the Russian Service of the Voice of America. “It is impossible to believe that the fighters of a private military company acted without the knowledge of the Russian officers in charge of this zone of Deir ez-Zor, and they did not know that a column containing PMC fighters was moving. This means that the Russian officer, who took the oath and who should have some concept of honor, received information from the Americans before the start of the operation that the convoy would be attacked, and did not warn (his).”
Or, for some reason, the PMC fighters ignored this warning, which also looks very strange, noted Alexander Golts.
“In fact, this is a monstrous situation, regardless of what the true purpose of the operation was (in which the Wagnerites were involved,” he added. “And I really don’t want to believe that American planes and helicopters shot at a PMC convoy.” I I can’t imagine what version the Russian authorities will be able to offer now. And if everything that happened is true, then they will remain silent until the last moment.”
At the same time, the analyst doubted that the tragedy would sharply discourage Russian mercenaries from participating in the Syrian conflict.
“Knowing the character of people who embark on such enterprises, I don’t think so. Those who become mercenaries (this applies not only to Russians) are characterized by a certain adventurous streak. Somehow, even when they reach adulthood, they retain feelings more characteristic of 18-year-olds. That, behold, a shrapnel or a bullet will hit someone, but not them. This is probably the only way you can voluntarily agree to participate in the war.”
Therefore, Alexander Golts thinks that the number of people wishing to go to Syria can only decrease if funding is reduced.
At the same time, head of the department for research on Middle Eastern conflicts at the Institute for Innovative Development, military observer Anton Mardasov suggested not to rush to conclusions, since the exact number of deaths is not yet known, “but there are many different fakes circulating.”
“It’s hard to believe that ... the insane number of people killed (over two hundred),” he added in a comment to the Russian service of the Voice of America. – According to my information, several Afghans, Iraqis and representatives of the Iranian IRGC were killed there, among others. And it is very difficult to say anything concrete about the fate of the Russians. But, given that there are ISIS Hunter units on the banks of the Euphrates, under whose cover Russian PMCs often operated, then, most likely, they really were there.”
According to the expert, in any case, it should be taken into account that, according to information leaked to the media, the group located in the incident zone tried to “squeeze” the oil refinery: “Therefore, perhaps the Ministry of Defense was not lying in that regard, this is an offensive (of pro-Assad forces ) was not agreed upon with the Russian military. They could act in pursuit of their own interests. In addition, Damascus, pro-Iranian militias are always interested in seizing territories that are under the control of the SDF.”
At the same time, the Ministry of Defense most likely knew about the offensive plans, because increased attention is paid to the line of contact between the pro-government forces and the SDF, says Anton Mardasov. In his opinion, the situation there is, naturally, constantly monitored.
“But initially, obviously, (the military department) wanted to distance themselves from this,” he suggested. “Like, if it’s a ride, it’s a ride.” And PMCs are a myth that no one officially confirms, although everyone knows about it. At the same time, it is curious that the next day after that massacre, the Ministry of Defense “balanced” the event with a propaganda message that the Americans deliberately raised the water level (in the Euphrates) in order to flood the bridge (built by the Russian military).”
This sounds rather strange, given that the bridge was flooded several weeks ago, the expert concluded.
The photo shows a Russian Aerospace Forces helicopter in the sky over Palmyra, Syria. September 15, 2017 (photo - Voice of America)
The attack on Palmyra requires professional staff work, which the militants are incapable of.
On December 11, militants of the Islamic State (IS), banned in Russia, ousted Assad’s troops from Tadmor, historical Palmyra, and for the second time captured this provincial city of world historical significance, not so important strategically, if you do not take into account the nearby crossroads of roads leading to that including Deir ez-Zor, besieged by IS for several years, with its oil refinery and air force base.
It is characteristic that the offensive of five thousand militants with tanks, armored personnel carriers and rocket artillery went through desert terrain for several hundred kilometers, but not a single Assad’s intelligence service detected it, which forces experts to talk about possible betrayal at the highest level of the command of the Syrian army and its mukhabarats.
A special topic is where these five thousand IS militants came from, given that, according to the estimates of the “anti-terrorist coalition”, in Mosul “besieged” by the United States and its allies, at the time the Islamists captured Palmyra, from three to five thousand militants remained. Some of them came from Mosul, despite the fact that the road to Syrian Raqqa at that time was already cut off by the formations of Baghdad and its allies besieging Mosul. Some of them consisted of Syrian IS units, which were supposed to hold Raqqa itself. And they stopped doing this immediately after the United States announced that the assault on the city had been postponed for at least two months.
That is, it is not clear how the Islamists, who infiltrated through the ranks of the troops besieging Mosul and left the Syrian capital of the Islamic State to the mercy of fate in the face of Kurdish and Turkish units, theoretically competing for the right to strike Raqqa in alliance with the Americans, reached unnoticed, despite all their heavy equipment. without a single shot from the American coalition air force, Assad's aviation and, we note, the Russian Aerospace Forces to Palmyra, which they occupied after heavy fighting. Moreover, planning such an operation requires professional staff work, which the militants themselves are hardly capable of.
The first wave of attackers was half destroyed by the Russian Aerospace Forces, which did not affect the outcome of the battle as a whole: it was lost. Palmyra was recaptured from the militants at one time after a complex and carefully prepared operation, planned and carried out under the direct control of Russian military advisers. It was lost both the first and second time by the Syrians themselves, although now they tried to hold it and lost to superior enemy forces.
Assad's loss of Palmyra coincided too closely with the end of the operation in eastern Aleppo to be coincidental. It is very likely that the United States in this case either directly used the Islamic State as an instrument of military pressure on Damascus, or turned a blind eye to the fact that it was used by its allies in the “anti-terrorist coalition” - most likely Qatar and, possibly, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Fortunately, Doha, Riyadh and Ankara at one time, if necessary, coordinated actions in Syria. Which version is true is a separate question.
This nullifies the meaning of negotiations with them on Syria until a final victory is achieved, that is, the destruction of terrorist groups until the remaining ones capitulate, leaving the war under the guarantees of the negotiators from the Khmeimim base.
Which contradicts the logic of not only Western, but also domestic diplomats, the purpose of whose activities is to limit and try to subordinate the activities of the Russian army instead of themselves, without claiming leading roles, following military successes, consolidating them politically. The fact that the cessation of the use of the Russian Aerospace Forces against terrorists, Russia’s voluntary commitment to limit the actions of the Aerospace Forces in urban areas, and the humanitarian pauses forced by the UN and the United States devalue the results of military operations, making the war endless, is clear to any specialist. The question of when the army will be allowed to do its work as necessary to achieve the final result has no answer today.
This requires an analysis of the situation both in Palmyra itself and in Mosul and Aleppo. Fortunately, ahead is the cleansing of Idlib, the liberation of Palmyra from militants, the lifting of the blockade from Deir ez-Zor, and it is not excluded - the destruction of the Islamic State in Iraq, since the United States is not actually doing anything against this organization, giving it every chance. Let us consider a number of aspects of the war against jihadists in Syria and Iraq, based on articles by Yu. B. Shcheglovin, prepared for the IBV.
Let's first analyze the situation around Mosul. On December 3, a contingent of Turkish troops entered the territory of the Al-Shikhan paramilitary militia camp to assist the Iraqi army in capturing Mosul. Turkish reinforcements consist of three battalions with heavy weapons. They are to assist in the liberation of Ninewa province by a Sunni militia called the National Forces for the Liberation of Ninewa. The Al-Shikhan camp is located on the border of Dahuk and Ninewa, where about 3.5 thousand Sunni militia fighters are trained under the guidance of Turkish instructors. They should move towards Mosul in the near future.
According to experts, it is too early to talk about the real large-scale entry of Turkish troops and their participation in the assault on the Iraqi capital of the Islamic State. Rather, we are talking about the rotation of the Turkish contingent.
The negative reaction of Iraqi Prime Minister H. al-Abadi to the participation of the Turks in the civil war in his country is known. Ankara will take this into account, despite the harsh statements of the top Turkish leadership. The Turks are more concerned about maintaining a presence in Iraqi Kurdistan than participating in street fighting in Mosul or liberating the Sunni triangle. Iran is increasing its influence in the Kurdish autonomy, using contacts with the J. Talabani clan and the Kurdistan Workers' Party. There are IRGC instructors there and multiple launch rocket systems are stationed there.
At the same time, a new stage seems to be emerging in the assault on Mosul. Iraqi special forces, together with police and militias, are drawn into street fighting. According to the US military, victory at Mosul is not in sight. The offensive lasts two months, and the Americans were forced to adjust their original plans twice. Apparently they will have to do this a third time. The offensive attempt by Iraqi special forces was made on the instructions of al-Abadi. The military is trying to attack from the east, which gives IS the opportunity to maneuver, concentrating forces in priority areas.
In October, Tehran put pressure on the Iraqi prime minister, demanding that Shiite popular mobilization forces loyal to Iran be involved in active hostilities. The command of the Iraqi army is resisting this. At the same time, the artillery of government forces in the city is ineffective. ISIS militants have created a system of underground tunnels near Mosul, allowing them to appear behind Iraqi military lines. IS uses booby traps and car bombs.
Narrow streets allow suicide bombers to attack attackers. The IS command successfully uses winter conditions for raids by mobile groups with heavy weapons behind the rear of Iraqi units. At the same time, the army calls on the population to stay in the city, and Prime Minister al-Abadi to leave it.
Baghdad's special forces, which managed to gain a foothold on the eastern outskirts of Mosul, lack support from the 9th Division. Its tanks tried to enter the city, but were ambushed and retreated. The losses of Iraqi troops in November amounted to about two thousand people. The 15th and 16th are being brought up to support the 9th division, which means the concentration of almost all of the attackers in the eastern direction. Plus, units of the 15th Division control a narrow section of the front in the southwest, along the road from Mosul to Tell Afar. This is still preparation for the offensive. However, the American military is being drawn into it, and has begun to take part in the fighting on the streets of Mosul.
The completion of the defeat of the Islamists in eastern Aleppo led to sharp divisions in their ranks. Some of the militants laid down their arms. Others agreed to leave the city, moving along the corridor allocated to them into the province of Idlib, which remains under the control of Assad’s opponents. The leaders of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (ex-al-Nusra, banned in Russia) and Kataib Abu Ammara opposed the capitulation. The radicals attacked the headquarters of the Jaysh al-Islam and Faylaq al-Islam brigades, which were suspected of intending to surrender, seizing weapons depots. Field commanders led by Abu Abdo al-Sheikh, who entered into negotiations with government forces, were arrested.
At the same time, attempts to maneuver with the names of the groups and change “Jabhat al-Nusra” to “Jabhat Fatah al-Sham” in order to dissolve the structure that had compromised itself into the alliance of nine groups failed. Attempts by the leadership of Jabhat al-Nusra to publicly refuse to move away from the alliance with al-Qaeda also failed.
Formally, after much persuasion from the Turkish MIT and the General Intelligence Directorate of Saudi Arabia, this was announced. But it was done in such a way that Washington had to declare: it does not believe in moving away from ties with Al-Qaeda. That does not prevent the United States from refraining from airstrikes on the positions of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham. Riyadh cannot abandon the ideology of al-Qaeda, since this, along with money, is a factor that ensures the arrival of new volunteers. Among those fighting in Jabhat Fatah al-Sham there are many convinced Islamists.
As suggested in Ankara and Doha, Aleppo as a center of resistance, much less a stronghold for the future expansion of anti-Assad forces, is over. In this regard, the task has been put forward to create a centralized Sunni resistance in Idlib, where the “reconciled” militants from Aleppo and the outskirts of Damascus are leaving. This allows you to delay time, avoid final defeat and restore combat potential. As regards, first of all, pro-Turkish groups. Ankara and Doha are trying to become central partners and sponsors of the newly structured rebel movement in Syria, squeezing KSA and Jordan out of it.
At the same time, the Jaish al-Fatah coalition has broken up not only into groups, the two largest of them are experiencing an internal split. Jabhat Fatah al-Sham is divided into supporters of al-Qaeda and its opponents. The main opponent of the pro-Saudi elements is the Jordanian Abu Khadija al-Urduni, who is closely associated with the Jordanian General Intelligence Directorate. Ahrar al-Sham split into supporters of the Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood. This group was financed by Riyadh and Ankara.
These plans and the prospects for their implementation are assessed with skepticism in analytical reports by the Saudi and Emirati intelligence services. They indicate that it is unrealistic to overcome the split and attempts in this direction are a waste of time. The documents indicate the productive work of the Syrian security authorities, as a result of which a process of mass desertion of a significant number of guerrilla field commanders began. Riyadh is at a crossroads in choosing further tactics, which has a negative impact on the volume of logistical assistance to the militants.
There is doubt about the ability to centrally manage the entire conglomerate of anti-Assad groups. Fortunately, the successful offensive in Aleppo seriously reduced this possibility on their part.
Questions about the behavior of the US military contingent and the coalition they led during the IS offensive on Palmyra force us, among other things, to analyze American initiatives regarding Aleppo. The inconsistency of Washington, which either put forward them through Secretary of State John Kerry, then withdrew them, as well as a massive attack by the EU with the involvement of the UN (Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is leaving his post and can say whatever he wants, in connection with which it is curious what his new place of work is , this may explain his behavior) and the introduction of new sanctions against “Assad’s friends” indicate that the West is panicking over the surrender of Aleppo and the fragmentation of the Sunni resistance in Syria.
Kerry's proposals are designed to save the besieged in order to knock the initiative out of Moscow's hands. The State Department believed that delaying time with the help of another humanitarian truce would help regroup the forces of opponents of the Assad regime and gain a foothold in at least some part of eastern Aleppo. Then it became obvious that the militants were leaving the city and talking about a united front was unrealistic. After this, the United States withdrew the initial initiative, trying to understand what was happening, what the dynamics were and what options were feasible in this regard. Hence the postponement of the main round of US-Russian consultations to December 9. Washington simply doesn't know what to do.
To say: “We cannot provide humanitarian aid to the Sunnis in Aleppo through Moscow and Damascus, because this will be evidence of their dominance” is politically incorrect and risks obstruction from the public opinion of the BSV, which will accuse European leaders of their personal political ambitions are more important than the lives of starving Syrians.
White House Press Secretary Joshua Earnest at a briefing, answering questions from journalists, could not clarify how Washington intends to force Moscow to change its policy in Syria. He mentioned sanctions, admitting that they do not always work. He was reminded that earlier sanctions had already been imposed on Iran and Syria, and several UN Security Council resolutions had been adopted. Ernest urged not to confuse the protection of American interests and military actions against the Islamic State.
At the same time, the US military bombed a hospital in Mosul, which, according to them, was the headquarters of the Islamic State. Even if this is true, it is a dubious justification from the point of view of democratic norms.
Washington still believes that Russia is not focused on fighting Jabhat al-Nusra, but on supporting Bashar al-Assad. This statement was made by Deputy Chief of the US State Department Press Service Mark Toner at a regular briefing for journalists. “Russia and the United States agree that al-Nusra is a terrorist organization and must be destroyed, just like ISIS. But we still haven't seen Russia focusing its attention on al-Nusra. It is focused on helping the regime fight the moderate opposition in Aleppo. We believe that's what's happening there," Toner said.
At the same time, it is well known that in Aleppo there were, first of all, Jabhat al-Nusra and groups affiliated with it, which officially announced this. No one stopped the United States from bombing Jabhat al-Nusra positions in Idlib (but this was not done). It is clear that the position of officials in Washington and Brussels is explained by the fact that Syria and Russia’s actions there are a breakdown of the monopolar world. Washington and Brussels don't like this. But saying this openly is fraught with reputational risks. In this regard, the tactics of helping all major forces in Syria hostile to Assad have been adopted. There's not much logic here. This is what caused the loss of Washington and Brussels in the information war.
It seems that in this situation the main task for Damascus and Moscow in the Syrian conflict has not changed. This is the final cleansing of Aleppo with the simultaneous launch of a humanitarian aid mechanism. It would be advisable to organize a trip to Aleppo for foreign journalists, as was done at the Khmeimim base. In general, it is important to prevent the West from seizing the initiative in the information and political areas of the Syrian conflict.
The degree of fear is evidenced by the neutrality (if not support) of the United States regarding the actions of the Islamic State during the latter’s capture of Palmyra. In the end, no one removed the task of overthrowing Assad, once set by Riyadh and Doha, from Ankara and Washington.
The performance of the Panama Papers figure and friend of Vladimir Putin, cellist Sergei Roldugin, at a concert of the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra in the Syrian city of Palmyra may be a gesture of contempt towards the West, which the Kremlin considers responsible for the leak of documents that cast a shadow on Putin’s associates. Western observers write about this when commenting on Roldugin’s participation in the concert.
On Thursday, May 5, in the Syrian city of Palmyra, the liberation of which from the militants of the Islamic State terrorist group was announced in official Damascus and Moscow, a concert was held “in memory of Syrian military personnel.” The Mariinsky Orchestra under the direction of Valery Gergiev, as well as cellist Roldugin, played at the event, through him, according to the Panama Papers, money laundering is carried out among people close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Putin is speaking in Palmyra, the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra is playing, and cellist Roldugin, who is involved in laundering billions, is watching all this,” writes a Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times Max Seddon.
Putin personally spoke with the participants of the “With a Prayer for Palmyra” concert via video link, Russian media reported.
“Shamed by the Panama Papers, Roldugin plays in Palmyra,” noted on Twitter Michael Miller, an international journalist who worked for a long time at Mashable.
While a number of commentators limited themselves to stating the fact that the Panama Papers figure played at the event, others called his presence a gesture from the Kremlin. They say the “leak,” which Moscow described as an operation of Western intelligence services directed against Russia, is by no means a hindrance to the Kremlin.
“Roldugin’s speech in Palmyra is the result of a month-long brainstorming in Moscow on how to say “fuck you...” after the release of the Panama Papers,” laughs the editor of Global Voices. Kevin Rothrock.
“Roldugin plays at a concert in the ruins of Palmyra. I can’t stop thinking that his presence is a deliberate “fuck you” gesture aimed at the West,” he noted on Twitter Tom Parfitt, Moscow correspondent for The Times.
This is better than what befell Palmyra under the leadership of ISIS, notes Mark McKinnon, international correspondent for the Canadian publication The Globe and Mail.
“You don’t have to like Putin or Assad to think this is better than what the Islamic State had in store for Palmyra,” MacKinnon said.
“What do the Syrians themselves think?” – the Moscow correspondent of Deutsche Welle advises all observers to take an interest in Emma Burrows. And he notes: “Russia itself is very proud of its contribution to the liberation of Palmyra.”
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