'Assad won when Russia's plane went down'
- 9 years ago
Turkey's downing of a Russian jet has played into the hands of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by bringing Moscow on board with his bitter opposition to Ankara, experts say.
On Thursday, Moscow announced it was preparing economic measures against Ankara two days after Turkish forces shot down a Russian plane that crashed in Syrian territory.
Russia has already warned its nationals against visiting Turkey and stepped up controls of Turkish agricultural imports in the wake of the incident.
And Russia's leaders have had harsh words for Ankara, with President Vladimir Putin deeming the plane's downing a "stab in the back committed by accomplices of terrorists."
"The only winner from these latest developments is Assad," wrote Henri Barkey and William Pomeranz of the Woodrow Wilson International Center think tank in an article for CNN.
"After all, one of his regime's primary antagonists (Turkey) is now starkly at odds with his most important backer (Russia)," the experts said.
On Thursday, Moscow announced it was preparing economic measures against Ankara two days after Turkish forces shot down a Russian plane that crashed in Syrian territory.
Russia has already warned its nationals against visiting Turkey and stepped up controls of Turkish agricultural imports in the wake of the incident.
And Russia's leaders have had harsh words for Ankara, with President Vladimir Putin deeming the plane's downing a "stab in the back committed by accomplices of terrorists."
"The only winner from these latest developments is Assad," wrote Henri Barkey and William Pomeranz of the Woodrow Wilson International Center think tank in an article for CNN.
"After all, one of his regime's primary antagonists (Turkey) is now starkly at odds with his most important backer (Russia)," the experts said.