The German government still hopes that the recent events happening in Syria will help Russia make the right decision. In particular, Berlin hopes that Moscow will stop supporting Bashar Asad in the Syrian conflict.
Apparently, no one in Germany or the entire EU is surprised with the Kremlin’s hostile reaction to America’s missile assault on a Syrian airbase belonging to Asad’s troops. Moreover, it would be a surprise to see Moscow show another reaction to the USA’s decision to shell the airbase in Syria in response to the fact that Bashar Asad used chemical weapons, which led to massive deaths of civilians including children.
German politicians think that now is the time for Russia to reconsider whom they have been backing all that time. According to several German experts, Russia is the only power capable of influencing Bashar Asad and preventing him from doing the same thing once again. They strongly believe that in order to make Asad change his mind, Western politicians need to influence Vladimir Putin first.
The expert assume that Bashar Asad couldn’t stay in power for so long but for the support coming from Russia and Iran. That’s why they lay big hopes on Rex Tillerson’s forthcoming visit to Russia. In case you don’t know, Rex Tillerson is the United States Secretary of State. This event means that there is still some room for negotiation between Moscow and Washington when it comes to the Syrian conflict. Assad seems to be the key figure to prevent the 2 sides from compromising. Up until recently, he has been the only key reason why the Western world was kind of afraid of punishing Asad. The experts also believe that after the use of chemical weapons, Putin will also have to turn his back on Asad. Also, the experts think that backing Assad is an unpromising idea at best. They also think that Bashar Asad has become a problem for Russia, and that’s why Russia may well want to get rid of the problem in the near future.
In case you don’t know, back in 2013, Russia showed their discontent with Asad’s approach to chemical weapons and insisted on destroying most of the chemical weapons.
After Asad’s airbase in Syria was destroyed by the USA, Russia figured out that Washington just could let Asad win the civil war in Syria. They just don’t see Asad as the one governing Syria anymore. So now German politicians hope that the sides participating in the conflict will start negotiating to deescalate the situation and avoid a major conflict.
For now, the Western world sees Russia’s consent to help investigating into the use of chemical weapons as a positive change. The German government assumes that the Syrian conflict cannot be resolved without Russia.
