Damascus – Issue 4-5 – Anwar Agayev
Today, Russia has become one of the few countries with a pro-Assad lobby, which is very active and influential. In Russia, they like to emphasize, both verbally and in writing, the extraordinary influence of parties that support the Syrian opposition, from Salafists and the Muslim Brotherhood to the Gulf States, and finally to Washington and Paris. However, the truth is that in our media and political sphere, and at the expert level, we notice an unprecedented loyalty to the Syrian regime. The Assad lobby in Russia consists of various figures with different backgrounds and agendas, united by their aim to defend the Syrian president and his entourage.
It should be noted here that Damascus spares no effort in supporting its activities in Russia. It has succeeded in gathering diverse groups, including very influential figures alongside marginal and opportunistic individuals. The impression arises that everyone capable of fueling the declining Syrian regime’s agenda is being unified.
We can divide the Assad lobby in Russia into the following groups:
Retirees with nationalist leanings: These are from Russian security institutions (the KGB and Foreign Intelligence) and the Russian Foreign Ministry, who worked in Syria for long periods and had strong ties with representatives of the authority in Damascus. They made significant efforts to consolidate the political and military infrastructure. Defending Assad today is not important in and of itself for them; rather, it is part of their personal war against the West, America, Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and everyone who dismantled the Soviet Union, which they considered their ideal homeland and the state they built throughout their lives.
These individuals believe wholeheartedly that Assad’s Syria is a fortress resisting the West and Israel, and that the opposition is nothing but a group of foreign-paid gangs and terrorists. Thus, they deal not with the real Syria but with an image they have created in their minds, an image they love and respect.
The claim that Assad has been anti-America is contradicted by years of cooperation with the CIA in kidnapping people worldwide. The Arab street is now discussing how the West is not in a rush to intervene in Syria, limiting its involvement to diplomatic activity. This sharply contrasts with what happened in Mali, where Western intervention took only weeks. The Arab street talks about the long-standing secret relations between Damascus and Tel Aviv, the sale of the Golan Heights to Israel for 100 million dollars on the eve of the June 1967 war, the fragile border with Israel, and the consistent cooperation with its intelligence services to fight revolutionaries and resistors.
Ironically, the recent Israeli airstrike on Syrian sites was also interpreted in favor of Assad. The regime attempted to exploit this attack to absolve itself in the eyes of Syrians of the story of its cooperation with Tel Aviv. This incident did not diminish the growing discontent with the regime.
In truth, the issue is more complicated than Russian patriots imagine. Convincing them of this is extremely difficult, as the matter has become personal and emotional rather than political. It is hard for them to watch Syria leave Russia’s orbit after they have given it all they could.
Scholars: Most of them are orientalists, Arabists, Islamic affairs specialists, and political experts from various backgrounds who serve Assad in the ways available to them. We will not mention names here, as anyone interested can find them on Syrian-related websites and in Russian media. Some do this sincerely and are convinced that the current regime is right and the opposition is wrong, while others follow a predetermined agenda, and still others want to send a message to Damascus that they are willing to cooperate. By observing the nature of these interventions, it is easy to understand the motivations behind each speaker.
Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church: The church does not directly intervene in the Syrian situation, but it expresses concern for the fate of Christians and Christian holy sites. However, some secular members of the church, like Roman Silantiev, known for his directed activity that spreads fear of Islam, have also joined the Assad lobby.
Silantiev, who spent his entire career trying to prevent Russian Muslims from receiving religious education outside of Russia and fought against inviting foreign scholars of Islamic jurisprudence to Russia—claiming that this was the cause of all of Russia’s problems related to Islam—recently made an exception for Assad’s Syria. He has repeatedly expressed his support for the current Syrian regime and launched strong attacks against the opposition, accusing it of terrorism, extremism, and other things.
4: The Islamophobia Lobby:
Figures known for their activism against Islamophobia (such as those working at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, including the head, Suleymanov, and Yana Amelina, among others) are actively defending Assad.
Disliked Officials in Islamic Organizations:
For instance, the unpopular Mufti of Perm, Muhammad Gali Hussein, and his close friend Farid Suleiman, who calls himself the head of the Council of Scholars at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (even though both are expelled). They visited Syria at the invitation of the Syrian authorities and frequently accompany official Syrian delegations, including accompanying Patriarch Kirill as representatives of Russian Muslims.
These two individuals have lost the respect and trust of Muslims in Russia due to their behavior and associations with anti-Islamic entities, as well as their unjustified accusations against everyone and their public support for Assad. Muhammad Gali Hussein told Syrian officials during a visit to Syria that “all segments of the population and religious communities in Russia” support the Syrian regime in its “fight against Islamic extremists, American pressure, and armed groups.”
Farid Suleiman went so far as to link a gathering of citizens in Makhachkala (the capital of the Republic of Dagestan) with the Syrian opposition, even though the gathering was meant to protest against the illegal methods used by Russian police and security forces in their dealings with the local population. Suleiman claimed that the Dagestanis’ sympathy for their fellow believers in the Middle East “was merely a fabricated act.” Suleiman asserted that the gathering “had nothing to do with the Muslims of Dagestan but rather involved misguided individuals.”
Leftist, Nationalist, and Patriotic Groups:
These groups believe that supporting Assad is a form of resistance against imperialism, the West, and America. As a result of their initiatives, the “Committee of Solidarity with the Peoples of Libya and Syria” was established (though it is essentially a committee of solidarity with Gaddafi and Assad). The committee is headed by Sergey Baburin, leader of the Russian People’s Party and former president of the Russian State University of Trade (whose speeches are reminiscent of Ba’athist rhetoric). Other members include writer Nikolai Sologubovsky, leftist activist Daria Mitina (one of the fiercest enemies of the Syrian opposition), and Russian State Duma deputies Oleg Shein and Alexei Kornienko, as well as Sergey Kotkalo, vice president of the Union of Writers of Russia, and other public figures.
The Syrian authorities highly value the positions of these individuals and invite them to Syria to express their gratitude. Some of them openly work with the Syrian regime, such as Mr. Marat Musin, an academic and public figure close to Baburin and a friend of Silantiev.
The internet is filled with videos filmed by Musin during his time accompanying Assad’s forces. Musin promotes the idea that what is happening in Syria constitutes a “major challenge to our Christian civilization.”
Incidentally, Russian citizen Sergey Berezhnoy, who was recently wounded in the fighting in Syria, had accompanied Musin during his vacation in Syria to work as a freelance journalist. His war stories won him an award, and he is now a judge and deputy president of the Arbitration Court in the city of Belgorod.
Some low-quality news agencies and video productions (oddly enough, some registered in the Republic of Abkhazia) also promote the Syrian regime’s perspective. Behind them are representatives of so-called nationalist groups.
Intellectual File
The Pro-Iranian Shia Lobby:
All of Iran’s loyalists in Russia have become involved in the campaign to support Assad, making this lobby the Syrian regime’s biggest ally. Among them is Haydar Jemal, head of the Russian Islamic Committee, who once stated that the fall of the ruling faction in Syria and the unification of the Sunni world would herald a war against Russia.
Business Groups and Others:
Those benefiting from their special connections with Syria. These groups often overlap, and we may see the same individuals among them. They regularly participate in media, roundtable discussions, write analytical articles, and support the regime through their personal channels.
- Political analyst Renat Makhmudov says, “The objectives of the different groups supporting Assad may vary, but, astonishingly, they all align with Israel’s interests.” Makhmudov adds that supporting Assad will be costly for Russia, as it has now become perceived as an adversarial power in the eyes of the Islamic world. Makhmudov notes, “This is not true, but the Arab street has started to perceive Russia in this entirely negative light.” He emphasizes, “If Russia’s foreign policy institutions adopt a reactionary strategy that positions Russia as ‘the policeman of the Middle East’—as Assad’s lobbyists in Russia advocate—then we will end up with only one remaining partner in the Middle East: Israel, which seems to be the intended outcome.”
