Syrian dictator Bashar Assad should gain control of the territory currently held by U.S. forces, whom President Trump has decided to withdraw from the country, a senior Russian diplomat said.
“We would like to understand exactly what they have in mind,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a Wednesday briefing.
“The question of fundamental importance is who will assume control of the regions the Americans will vacate,” said Zakharova. “It should be the Syrian government, yet we have no information about any contact on this issue between Washington and Damascus.”
Zakharova’s comments show how Russia, which has joined Iran in propping up the Assad regime, hopes to take advantage of Trump’s unexpected decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s team had been planning to use the fact that major parts of the country are controlled by U.S.-backed rebels as leverage in negotiations at the United Nations that would deny victory to Assad in the civil war. Trump’s announcement last week scuttled that plan, raising the likelihood of a windfall for the Assad regime.
“The point at issue is not national U.S. territory but the territory of a sovereign state,” said Zakharova. “Since the declared actions will change U.S. strategy, we would like to understand exactly what they have in mind.”
It’s a high-stakes question, because just last year U.S.-partnered fighters won “a race with Russian-backed Syrian troops to seize” the country’s major oil fields from the Islamic State, as the Associated Press put it. And newly formed Russian energy company Evropolis is expected to get a share of any oil taken from the fields that ISIS once held.
“The company is believed to be associated with Russian businessman Evgeny Prigozhin, who is also known as ‘Putin’s chef’, for his catering work with the Kremlin,” as Australian-based outlet the National observed Wednesday.
That might explain why a mercenary group linked to Prigozhin attacked a U.S. outpost near a gas plant in Deir al-Zour earlier this year. “Despite the February clashes, coalition war planes have largely deterred Russian and Iranian forces from attempting to seize back control of the oil and gas fields,” the National noted.
Russia hopes that a full U.S. withdrawal will stabilize Assad’s regime. “We believe that any positive change on the ground in Syria will produce a lasting positive effect only if it is backed by major improvements on the political track based on respect for Syria’s unity and territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Zakharova said.
