Why Russia's aircraft carrier visits Syrian port
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People's Daily, January 13, 2012
On Jan. 7, the politically unstable Syria received a special visitor – Russia's only aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov. The aircraft carrier's visit to Syria during such a sensitive period immediately sparked various reactions.
The Syrian state media called the visit a "show of solidarity with the Syrian people," while the Russian military maintained that the aircraft carrier was on its set course, and anchored at the Syrian port of Tartus just to replenish provisions, stressing that it had nothing to do with Syria's current situation.
At the same time, major Western media outlets published reports saying that Russian warships entered Syrian waters to inhibit foreign invasion. The same event led to different interpretations, making people wonder why the Russian aircraft carrier chose to visit Syria.
The Russian military's interpretation should be considered the most authoritative, not to mention that the aircraft carrier was indeed on a course that was set long ago.
The Syrian state media's interpretation and high-profile coverage are understandable. The country is under enormous domestic and international pressure, and wants to intimidate foreign forces by interpreting the arrival of the aircraft carrier as Russia's strong support. However, the problem is that Russia may have a different plan.
This event once again demonstrated Western mainstream media's great influence over opinions. It realized their attempt of tying up Russia with the Syrian government so as to exert pressure on Russia.
Put aside the thinking pattern brought by the Western media and think it over, the standpoint that Russia supports the Syrian government is factually full of holes. Although Russia has expressed its opinion of opposing external forces' military intervention in Syria for many times before, it is just adhering to its consistent position in foreign policies, which is also in line with normal international standard of conduct.
Though Russia's aircraft carrier insisted on the original voyage planning, it took low-key actions and hurriedly sailed away from Syrian Port after a short stop. Besides, Russia didn't take any more powerful supportive measures such as providing weapons, sending armies etc. hence the opinion of strongly supporting melt away.
To be objective, any act of Russia is only for protecting its own strategic interests. As for the issue of Syria, what Russia needs most to protect is its own vested interest, instead of simply supporting someone else or opposing another one.
Analyzing from this perspective, the action of Russia's aircraft carrier, was just to further strengthen its diplomatic posture with specific actions for warning various political forces not to harm Russia's interests regardless of their attitudes toward the situation in Syria.
Meanwhile, once the situation in Syria changes in the future, Russia also needs to adopt a series of preparatory measures such as withdrawing its expatriates, protecting overseas assets etc. It's safe to say that the cruise of Russian aircraft carrier means nothing but to reach the two direct goals "Declaration" and "Layout."
