Global Geopolitical Series: Putin says Russia knows perpetrators of attack on Syrian base

During a meeting with the editors-in-chief of Russian papers and news agencies in Moscow, Russian president Vladimir Putin said that the recent attacks on the country’s Khmeimim Airbase in Lakotia province of Syria were provocations aimed at undermining the country’s relations with Turkey and Iran. He added that Russia knows who was or were behind the provocative attacks, however, didn’t disclose the names but to add that it wasn’t Turkey.

Here are the key comments from Putin,

“Those were provocations aimed at disrupting the earlier agreements, in the first place. Secondly, it was about our relations with our partners – Turkey and Iran. It was also an attempt to destroy those relations….We have a perfect understanding of that and will act in solidarity...There were provocateurs there, but they were not Turks…..We know who they are. We know whom and how much they paid for these provocations….We know when and where those unmanned aerial vehicles were handed over and how many there were…Those aircraft were only camouflaged – I want to emphasize this – to look like handicraft production. In fact, it is quite obvious that there were elements of high-tech nature there.

Putin comments seem to have counter previous reports suggesting that the attacks were staged by the Turks.

Russian military sites in Syria were targeted in two major attacks in the past two weeks, one on New Year’s Eve and another on January 6. The first assault reportedly carried out by an infiltration squad armed with mortars, resulted in two Russian servicemen being killed and damage to warplanes at Khmeimim Airbase. The second involved 13 drones armed with bomblets, which were all either shot down or forced to land via means of electronic warfare by Russian forces.