Retired German general heaps praise on Russia for peacekeeping actions in Syria

By launching an anti-terrorist air campaign in Syria, Moscow added greatly to the beginning of the peace process in the country, according to former chairman of the NATO Military Committee Harald Kujat.

Former Luftwaffe Gen. Harald Kujat (Ret.)  A man of rare honesty and professionalism.

In an interview with the German newspaper Passauer Neue Presse, Harald Kujat, a retired German general and former chairman of the NATO Military Committee, heaped praise on Russia’s role in the peace talks to resolve the Syrian crisis.

“Only Russia’s military interference made it possible to start the peace process [on Syria],” Kujat said.

According to him, the Syrian crisis was in a state of stagnation because no one had any “strategy for peaceful settlement”, and neither the US nor the EU was prepared to conduct large-scale activity.

“It was done by Russia, which threw up a window for a political solution,” he pointed out.

Kujat noted the Syrian Army was on the verge of defeat in the run-up to the Russian air campaign, and that the army stood to collapse within “only a few weeks” at the time.

He also said that but for Russia, Syria would have collapsed and Daesh terrorists would have seized power in this Arab country.

The Geneva peace talks between the Syrian government and representatives of the Syrian opposition began on January 29. On February 9, UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said that the negotiations had been suspended until February 25.

Syria has been mired in a civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to President Bashar Assad fighting opposition factions and extremist groups, such as Daesh and the Al-Nusra Front, which are banned in Russia. As for the Russian air campaign, it was launched on September 30, 2015, following a request from Syrian President Bashar Assad.