{"id":68313,"date":"2017-12-28T22:18:53","date_gmt":"2017-12-28T22:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/12\/28\/putin-syrian-campaign-showed-off-russias-military-might\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:51:08","slug":"putin-syrian-campaign-showed-off-russias-military-might","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/flashpoints\/2017\/12\/28\/putin-syrian-campaign-showed-off-russias-military-might\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin: Syrian campaign showed off Russia&#8217;s military might"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MOSCOW \u2014 President Vladimir Putin praised Russian soldiers Thursday for their actions in Syria, saying the Russian campaign there has demonstrated the might of the nation\u2019s revamped military to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking at a Kremlin awards ceremony for troops who fought in Syria, Putin said Russia has \u201cmade the main, decisive contribution to the destruction of a criminal group that cast a challenge to the entire civilization.\u201d He added that the Islamic State group was seeking to turn Syria into a base for \u201cglobal aggression\u201d and threaten Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Putin said the more than 48,000 Russian troops who took part in the Syria campaign were fighting for their \u201chomeland, for a just and fair cause.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYour heroic actions and professionalism helped preserve the Syrian state, stop mass killings, executions and terror against civilians,\u201d Putin told hundreds of soldiers who gathered in the Kremlin\u2019s opulent, gold-and-white St. George\u2019s Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Russia launched a campaign in Syria on Sept. 30, 2015, when Syrian President Bashar Assad\u2019s government was on the verge of collapse, quickly turning the tide of conflict in his favor. Thanks to Russian air cover and its special operations forces, Assad\u2019s military has routed both the ISIS militants and the rebels and seized wide swathes of land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Putin declared victory in Syria on a visit to the Russian air base there on Dec. 11 and ordered a partial pullout of Russian forces from the country. He emphasized that the military will maintain its presence at both the Hemeimeem air base in Syria and a naval facility in the Syrian port of Tartus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey are an important factor in protecting our national interests, ensuring Russia\u2019s security in one of the key strategic regions,\u201d Putin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Russian leader emphasized that \u201cRussia\u2019s army and navy have fully shown their increased capability and successfully used state-of-the-art weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"692\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP17362545776703.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-104227\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP17362545776703.jpg.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP17362545776703.jpg.jpg?resize=300,203 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP17362545776703.jpg.jpg?resize=768,519 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, reports to President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Thursday, Dec. 28, 2017. Putin said Russia&#8217;s action in Syria has demonstrated the power of the nation&#8217;s modernized military to the world. (Alexei Druzhinin\/Sputnik, Kremlin pool photo via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Putin noted that Russian pilots had flown 34,000 combat missions over Syria during the campaign and the Russian military conducted 166 launches of high-precision cruise missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Syrian operation marked the combat debut of an array of new weapons for Russia, including cruise missiles launched from warships, submarines and strategic bombers. The new missiles gave the Russian military a long-sought, long-range precision cruise capability that only the U.S. had before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe army has radically changed,\u201d Putin said. \u201cIt has changed because people have felt themselves on top, which was very important, and also because they saw how our weapons work. The entire world saw it, and our people saw it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Vladimir Putin praised Russian soldiers Thursday for their actions in Syria, saying the Russian campaign there has demonstrated the might of the nation\u2019s revamped military to the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":104226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":13,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,13,16,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1323],"class_list":["post-68313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"QHKS4SV6KNE45OK5S25HP25QLE","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2017\/12\/28\/putin-syrian-campaign-showed-off-russias-military-might\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Putin: Syrian campaign showed off Russia&#039;s military might - Air Force TImes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President Vladimir Putin praised Russian soldiers Thursday for their actions in Syria, saying the Russian campaign there has demonstrated the might of the nation\u2019s revamped military to the world.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Putin: Syrian campaign showed off Russia&#039;s military might\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Vladimir Putin praised Russian soldiers Thursday for their actions in Syria, saying the Russian campaign there has demonstrated the might of the nation\u2019s revamped military to the world.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/flashpoints\/2017\/12\/28\/putin-syrian-campaign-showed-off-russias-military-might\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Air Force TImes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-28T22:18:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T13:51:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Vladimir Isachenkov, The Associated Press\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Vladimir Isachenkov, The Associated Press\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" 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