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Sunday, 16 August 2026dailybeirut.com
Lebanon
A Times report details Russia’s new agreement with Syria, highlighting constrained access to Hmeimim Air Base and mounting setbacks for Moscow’s global influence amid the Ukraine war.
A report in The Times examined the recently concluded agreement between Russia and Syria on the status of Russia’s military presence in the country, framing it against broader questions about the durability of Russian global influence as the Kremlin intensifies its focus on the war in Ukraine.
The agreement grants Russia limited rights to refuel its military aircraft at the Hmeimim Air Base in Syria, according to the report. It contains no provisions beyond that which would serve to boost Russian morale, noted Nikita Smagin, an expert on Iranian affairs and Russian policy in the Middle East.
The report raised doubts about Russia’s future ability to use its primary Syrian military installations for operational purposes—particularly logistical support for the so-called “Africa Corps,” an extension of the Kremlin-controlled Wagner Group active in Libya, Mali, the Central African Republic, and other African states.
Hanna Notte, a specialist in Russian foreign policy, stated it is now unlikely that Russia will be able to employ Syrian bases for military functions going forward—though she did not rule out the possibility entirely.
The past few weeks have delivered successive blows to the Kremlin’s ambitions to sustain its international influence, the report observed, even as the war in Ukraine continues. Alongside the erosion of the Bashar al-Assad regime’s stability, Russia failed to prevent Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro—a key Moscow ally—from falling into the hands of U.S. special forces. Separately, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose government had been widely viewed as a Kremlin “Trojan horse” inside the European Union, suffered an electoral defeat.
Russian influence has also receded in the South Caucasus, where Armenia and Azerbaijan—both former Soviet republics—are moving away from Moscow’s orbit.
Other longstanding Russian partners have begun sending troubling signals, the report added. Serbia—one of the few European countries that has not imposed sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine—hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week. It marked his first visit to Belgrade since the war began in 2022.
An unnamed Ukrainian official described the talks between Zelenskyy and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić as “a slap in the face” for Vladimir Putin and part of a broader effort to draw Serbia away from Kremlin alignment.
Zelenskyy’s trip to Belgrade followed a direct appeal by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Putin during talks in Omsk, Siberia, urging him to halt hostilities in Ukraine. Tokayev said: “It is regrettable that young people are dying.” The report noted that Putin appeared visibly uncomfortable during the Kazakh leader’s remarks.
