CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2016
| Author | Korenewsky, Aaron Wesley |
|---|---|
| Title | Sukhois over Syria: Analyzing the Kremlin's Statements and Justification behind Russia's 2015 Syrian Air Campaign |
| Summary | Russia’s air campaign over Syria, launched September 30, 2015, represents the first military intervention by Russian forces outside of the borders of what was the Soviet Union since 1979—an unprecedented act on behalf of an international pariah and another milestone in the application of Russian forces abroad. This thesis seeks to explain why the Kremlin decided to intervene in Syria, a topic that has not yet been addressed in the scholarly literature or in a systematic way. By collecting all those materials related to Syria published on the Kremlin’s website between June 2015 and March 17, 2016 and conducting a thematic analysis of the resulting data body, the thesis identified two major overarching themes of (1) fighting terrorism and (2) an ideational dimension labeled the “Putin Doctrine.” The intensity and dominance of the Putin Doctrine codes during the lead-in and directly after strikes began insinuates that this ideational dimension factored heavily into Russian thinking, despite claims to the contrary. Such a finding lends further support to the view that the Kremlin’s thinking on intervention has fundamentally shifted during Putin’s third presidential term. |
| Supervisor | Svensson, Sara |
| Department | School of Public Policy MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2016/korenewsky_aaron.pdf |
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