On April 26, the Qatari-owned Al-Quds al-Arabi daily carried the following report by its correspondent in Paris Elaph Qadah: “A few months after Russia took a decision to control the Syrian coast’s food basket, mainly citrus fruits, to replace the Turkish products which Moscow used to import before the relations between the two countries became tense, Russia attempted to diversify the Syrian exports to include industrial and textile products, which had negative consequences on the Syrian citizens, due to the insane and ongoing rise of the prices. This Russian domination of the coast’s economic wheel was accompanied by agreements with the Syrian government to implement developmental projects in Latakia, out of all the other cities controlled by the regime’s forces, which raised questions surrounding Moscow’s purpose from its economic expansion in the coast, in parallel to its extensive military presence.

“The regime’s media spoke about the enhancement of Russian-Syrian cooperation in the economic and commercial sectors, as the official news agency SANA published an interview with Latakia Governor Ibrahim as-Salem, in which he claimed that the projects in the city served the interests of both people, and pointed to the facilitations offered to Russia’s businessmen and companies, to create a health investment environment. But Syrian journalist Samir at-Tawil, who specializes in economic affairs, believed that through its projects and military and economic presence in the coast, the Russian regime aimed to achieved several goals, namely the preservation of its military base in Tartus City, the continuation of its oil and gas prospecting in the Mediterranean Sea, the acquisition of sovereign rights in the territorial waters, and the maintaining of the only maritime opening for it on the Mediterranean.

“He continued to Al-Quds al-Arabi: “The Russian goal exceeds the economic factor and is related to its presence in the Levant, which is the heart of the world and the most important transit area. At this level, we must point to the old Russian proposal to the Syrian regime, to link the waters of the five seas and open Europe to the Gulf. And the circumstances are now ripe for the building of military and economic bases for Moscow along the coast, amid the belief that there is an international settlement with the superpowers, based on a quotas system.” On the other hand, At-Tawil pointed to the presence of Hafez and Muhammad Makhlouf in Russia, knowing they are the ones who used to manage the economic process in Syria. Consequently, if an agreement is reached over a settlement ending with Al-Assad’s departure, the ruling family could pillage the state’s wealth and start managing its affairs from Russia.

“The economic journalist then recalled that Syria’s previous debt, which resulted from Hafez al-Assad’s purchasing of Russian heavy weapons, had been dropped in 2006 in exchange for Russia’s acquisition of lands inside the workers’ city of Adra. And the same might be repeated with Bashar al-Assad, with the selling of Syrian regions to cover the debt...”