Analysis | ‘Erratic, spasmodic, unfocused’: how Donald Trump has been outplayed by Vladimir Putin in Middle East
Putin has showed both that Russia stands by its friends and that it can project power well beyond Eastern Europe
Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to Syria on Monday as part of a whirlwind Middle Eastern tour. Putin, who also stopped in Egypt and Turkey, met leaders, posed for photo-ops, signed a huge energy deal and, all in all, played the part of an influential international statesman.
While US President Donald Trump has sparked outrage across the region, Putin played the role of sober and dependable partner.
In Cairo, Putin announced the resumption of direct Russian commercial flights to the country for the first time since a plane bombing there in 2015. Discussions with President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi also circled around the signing of a Russian contract for a US$30 billion nuclear energy plant as well as a possible agreement for the Russian air force to use Egyptian bases.
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In Ankara, Putin met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the eighth time in 2017, further proof of how dramatically relations between the two countries have improved in the year since the assassination of the Russian ambassador in Turkey and the two years since Turkish forces shot down a Russian fighter jet.