A former member of Russia’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told state backed television channel RT that western military operations against Iran or Syria would be an indirect attack on Russia, and by defending Syria and or Iran, Russia would be defending “it’s own interest”, according to MEMRI – the Middle East Media Research Institute.
Leonid Ivashov pointed out that Syria and Iran are both allies of Russia and that western led operations against either country would see Russia losing “important positions and allies in the Arab world”.
One of the most critical of those positions is Russia’s Tartus naval base in Western Syria. The base allows Russian vessels to operate in the Mediterranean Sea and reportedly played host to a Russian aircraft carrier late in 2011, designed to show support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Later in the interview in which Ivashov made the comments above, he claimed that Russia is protecting the world from fascism and that the operations in Libya to remove former Libyan dictator Muammar Gadaffi were equivalent to the Nazi-led invasions of Poland and Russia during World War II.
