A new action film, "Sky" by name, was released in Russia about a month ago.
The plot presents in a heroic light the fighting of the Russian army in Syria, and seeks to equate it with a touch of "saving the homeland."
But do not look for in the "sky" artistic quality and depth: this is a classic propaganda product, as expected from a film commissioned by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
As such, he is doing the job - burning into the consciousness of the Russian public the willingness of his country to advance in any way, even by force of arm, what the regime defines as Russia's interests.
At the invitation of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Poster of the movie "Sky",
Naturally, the film does not reveal the same interests that motivated President Putin to order the launch of forces into a Middle Eastern country, thousands of miles from Russia's borders.
Officially, the Russians justified their military involvement in the war alongside the Assad regime by the need to protect their country from Sunni extremists - some native to Russia and former Soviet Union countries - who might establish themselves in Syria after Assad's defeat. Which is portrayed nicely, since it places Russia in the seemingly good camp, and along the way marks all those who oppose Assad as Islamic extremists and de facto terrorists.
But the real reasons that brought the Russians to Syria are more complex, and less innocent.
They are rooted in Putin's strategic decision to stand, as in Soviet times, vis-à-vis the United States and its allies in every possible arena, in order to return his country to the status of a superpower.
The choice of Syria as one of the arenas was almost natural;
Syria was an ally of the USSR, so a return to it is seen as a return of the crown to its former glory.
The gradual folding of the US from the Middle East provided the Russians with a good opportunity to return to it: when a superpower leaves the region, it is easier for its rival to enter the vacuum. "Get dirty" in fighting on the ground and preferred to crush the enemy from the air, so that the fighting became for them a long series of training, experimentation and purposeful display of the new weapon systems.
Russian forces in Syria // Photo: GettyImages,
For Putin, the Syrian exchange exceeds the price.
He has already received from Assad the ports for the Russian navy on the shores of the Mediterranean.
Unlike the Soviet past, today's Russia does not intend to fund its metastases.
On the contrary, it plans to reap economic benefits from the Syrian adventure - for example, to set up infrastructure projects for it funded by the international community to contribute to the reconstruction of Syria from the rubble.
As millions of Russians watch "Sky" and get excited about their fearlessly made heroes, at least on screen, Putin will mark for himself a "V" on the global chessboard.
Where the Americans have failed and fled Iraq and Afghanistan, he is meanwhile succeeding.
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