War crimes, a symphony orchestra, and one smoking aircraft carrier: A look back at nine years of Russian intervention in Syria

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In September 2014, an international coalition led by the United States launched a military campaign against the Islamic State, which had seized large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. By September 2015, Russia was launching its own operation in Syria under the pretext of combating international terrorism. In practice, however, Moscow’s efforts were directed towards supporting the forces of Bashar al-Assad against the armed opposition to his government — regardless of whether that opposition was motivated by Islam or by liberalism. At the time, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova stressed that these actions were “not intended to distract attention from Ukraine” and were not “a matter of rivalry with any countries.”

On March 14, 2016, Vladimir Putin ordered the withdrawal of the “main part” of Russia’s military contingent from Syria. The Ministry of Defense reported the liberation of 400 settlements from forces opposing the Assad regime and the fulfillment of the operation's objectives. Defense expert Viktor Murakhovsky told business publication Vedomosti at the time that Russia had managed to establish cooperation with the Americans in combating terrorists. Political analyst Andrei Kortunov, in the same report, noted that “Putin's decision would disappoint both those who believed Russia was stuck in the conflict and those who felt it should carry the full burden of preserving Assad’s regime.”

Cultural deception

Despite Maria Zakharova’s statements, it did not appear that Russia’s intentions in Syria were devoid of geopolitical ambition. Moscow’s presence in the Levant was marked by grand, demonstrative events. In May 2016, the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra performed a concert in Palmyra, which had been liberated from ISIS militants. The cello solo was played by Putin's “wallet” and confidante Sergey Roldugin, and the show’s conductor, Valery Gergiev, was another friend of the president’s. The BBC’s Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg noted that Russia wanted to showcase its positive contribution to resolving the Syrian crisis by using classical music to “reinforce the message that Russia is a force for good.”

However, in December of the same year, ISIS militants recaptured Palmyra. The city was not retaken until March 2017, primarily through the efforts of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) and the Russian Aerospace Forces.

Although the “main part” of the Russian contingent was said — by none other than Putin — to be on its way out of Syria, in August 2016, participants of the TV quiz show What? Where? When? arrived at the Russian airbase in Khmeimim and played a round of Brain Ring with military personnel on the ground. Andrei Kozlov, a What? Where? When? grandmaster, praised the Russian military, claiming that “smart, intellectual, and passionate people serve in the Russian army.”

It seemed as if Russia could now rest on its laurels. However, in October 2016, a Northern Fleet naval group led by the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov headed to Syria, inspiring memes along the way — the ship was visibly belching thick black smoke, and two fighter jets, a MiG-29 and a Su-33, crashed while attempting to land on its deck.

As if the concert in Palmyra had not been enough, in December 2016 a plane carrying the Alexandrov Ensemble, Russia’s military choir and dance troupe, departed for Syria to perform for Russian troops ahead of the New Year. This time, the outcome was tragic: according to the official version of events, a crew error was to blame for the Tu-154 crashing into the Black Sea, killing all aboard. Among the casualties were musicians, dancers, Ministry of Defense culture department head Anton Gubankov, and Elizaveta Glinka, better known as “Doctor Liza,” a member of the Presidential Human Rights Council.

Questionable calculations

One troop withdrawal from Syria was also not enough, so in December 2017, Putin announced another, supposedly final one. According to the man in the Kremlin, who largely echoed his similar claims of 2016, all of the Russian Armed Forces’ objectives had been achieved. Russia had demonstrated the strength of its military-industrial complex, proven the “high combat readiness” of its army, and ensured Syria’s preservation as a “sovereign, independent state.”

Just one month earlier, in November 2017, then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had touted the successes of the Syrian campaign, saying Russian forces had helped government troops reclaim 503,223 km² of territory and “eliminate the majority of militants.” This achievement seemed even more remarkable given the fact that, according to official data, Syria’s total area is only 185,180 km².

This cartographic quandary forced MGIMO’s head of the military department, Ivan Marushchak, to seek a formal clarification from the General Staff. In response, the Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Directorate, Lieutenant General Viktor Poznikhir, claimed that Syria’s total area was 529,708 km². To accomplish this feat, he cited the General Staff’s detailed maps, which accounted for terrain relief. The document insisted that their calculations should be trusted, emphasizing that professionals were behind the work. Notably, the story was initially published on the website of the Govorít Moskva radio station, but it was later deleted.

The military and its crimes

Russia’s “assistance to the Syrian people” resulted in 14,216 confirmed civilian deaths, according to the NGO Airwars Research. These were primarily caused by the widespread use of vacuum bombs and thermobaric munitions against civilian infrastructure. The same 2021 study suggests that the total number of civilian casualties could be as high as 24,000. Hospitals, among other targets, were bombed deliberately.

The main beneficiaries of Russia’s actions were Bashar al-Assad’s regime — which would have collapsed without Russian and Iranian support — and the Kremlin itself, which not only tested its armed forces in combat but also secured a Mediterranean naval base in Tartus and an airfield in Khmeimim. Russian military leaders also reaped rewards, often advancing their careers by claiming credit for various victories — even though Wagner PMC mercenaries were the ones storming rebel positions. Generals like Ivan Popov, Alexander Chaiko, Alexander Lapin, Sergey Surovikin, and Alexander Dvornikov earned their medals in Syria before being redeployed to the so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Success proved even harder to come by when fighting against an enemy equipped with modern air defense systems and other critical weaponry. Lapin, for instance, was accused by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Wagner PMC head Yevgeny Prigozhin of abandoning the town of Lyman and allowing Ukrainian forces to break through near Terny, Torske, and Yampolivka in the Donetsk Region. Kadyrov also claimed that Lapin, awarded the Hero of Russia title for capturing Lysychansk, had not actually been in the town. Lapin reportedly decorated his son, a lieutenant colonel, after a failed assault on Chernihiv and was later filmed comically commanding the “defense” of Grayvoron in Russia’s Belgorod Region — long after Ukrainian troops had already left — shouting: “Move the f*ck forward! For the Motherland!”

However, as laughable as Russia’s generals from the Syria campaign may seem, the war crimes committed by Russian forces are far from humorous. In addition to the numerous bombings of civilian infrastructure, Russian forces stand credibly accused of participation in Assad’s use of chemical weapons. The OPCW-UN commission determined that Syrian government forces were responsible for using sarin gas in Khan Shaykhun on April 4, 2017, and then-U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson blamed Russia for enabling the attack.

Wagner PMC mercenaries were equally notorious for their brutality toward the local population. A shocking video that circulated online in 2019 shows Wagner fighters bludgeoning a civilian man with a sledgehammer, decapitating him, hanging his body upside down, and setting it on fire — all while a song plays with the lyrics, “I take the heavy rifle off my shoulder, shoot the son, then shoot the mother.”

In the end, not even this level of brutality proved capable of keeping Assad in power. The confrontation that began in 2011 with peaceful protests against the Syrian regime ended — after 13 years of brutal civil war — with that regime’s collapse. In April 2014, Bashar al-Assad reportedly instructed former Russian Prime Minister Sergey Stepashin to “tell Vladimir Putin that I am not [Viktor] Yanukovych — I won’t flee anywhere.” On Dec. 9, 2024, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov announced that Assad and his family were in Russia, where they have been granted asylum.