MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia's year-and-a-half counterterrorist campaign in Syria helped solve the geopolitical task of disrupting the chain of revolutions in the region, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday.
"The deployment of our group in the Syrian Arab Republic helped solve the geopolitical task of breaking the chain of 'color revolutions' replicated in the Middle East and Africa," Shoigu said at a forum for young diplomats.
Moscow has been conducting a counter-terrorist campaign in Syria since September 30, 2015, at President Bashar Assad's request.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in December that the Syrian government and armed opposition groups had reached an agreement on a nationwide ceasefire in Syria and on readiness to start peace talks.
"The likelihood is high that the geography of 'color revolutions' will expand," Shoigu added. "Their implementation allows for a minimal cost of resources and the limited use of own weapons and armed forces to crush regional powers while achieving political and economic goals."
The US-led Western attempts to slow down the process of establishing a new world order lead to chaos and anarchy, the Russian defense minister said.
"Relations between states are becoming increasingly strained. The struggle for resources and control of the routes of their transportation intensifies. Attempts by the West, led by the United States, to slow down the process of establishing a new and more just world order lead to growing chaos, anarchy and encounter rejection on the part of many states," he said.
"Military force is becoming the main tool for solving international problems. A serious factor is the threat of international terrorism," he said.
