Although Russia might have found it difficult to commit large numbers of its own troops to Syria, it could certainly have subsidised the salaries of Syrian army soldiers, which could well have gone some way to mitigating the mundane bread-and-butter defections and passivity within the Syrian army.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday (December 19) that Russia had not been defeated in Syria, and that he was ready to compromise over Ukraine in possible talks with President-elect Donald Trump on ending the war.

When his Russian bosses and the mercenaries protecting them finally left, Homam Kasouha walked into the plant’s head office and did something he had yearned to do for years.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia was winning in Ukraine and wasn't "weakened" by the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a key ally. Russia was negotiating with all major groups in Syria to retain its key naval and air bases in the country,