Paul Goble
Staunton, Dec. 9 – Vladimir Putin’s grant of political asylum to Syria’s Bashar is the sixth time post-Soviet Moscow has taken that step for one of its allies overthrown by a popular revolution, a sign of both gratitude for their support and hope that these individuals will somehow be able to help Moscow in the future.
The other five, the Vyorstka news portal reports, have been Afghanistan’s Babrak Karmal, East Germany’s Eric Honnecker, Azerbaijan’s Ayaz Mutalibov, Kyrgyzstan’s Askar Akayev, and Ukraine’s Viktor Yanukovich (verstka.media/karmal-honecker-mutallibov-akaev-yanukovych-asad).
While other political allies of Russia may see such grants as the ultimate expression of Moscow’s willingness to protect them, opponents of these rulers are likely to see such steps differently, as an indication that Moscow is rapidly losing its ability to take steps to keep such people in power and will instead allow them to be a club of overthrown presidents in Moscow.
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