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Wasn't expecting that but thinking about it, it does make sense (from their point of view).
They saved Assads ass, his military regained the initiative and his government can't be fully ignored when it comes to negotiations. Additionally Putin himself turned into a crucial player and will have a part in any negotiation.
The majority of western democracies public isn't that well informed and still thinks the VVS was mostly bombing ISIS. So he definately improved his global image. The Russians are pulling out while they're in the initiative and after claiming that all their goals have been achieved, the leadership won't appear weak or loose credit at home.
In the end they'll be able to sell it as a success. Assad was about to be defeated and now he's more or less calling the shots.
Another important factor here, most of the upcoming, decisive battles in Syria will be ground combat and it will get ugly. Just imagewise it might be better not to have an active role.
And of course there's also the fact that he leaves "The West" a decent shit salad with some chaos dressing.
Just the power vacuum itself will be an imense challenge for everyone involed. Riad might see a chance to enter the arena and Tehran will most likely increase its involvement.
Anyways, he doesn't look too bad and leaves us an awful lot of stuff to deal with.
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