His cautious stance may reduce his popularity against the backdrop of the war threats that Russia has set in the west. Faced with an obvious choice whether to fight with the United States, the United Kingdom and France, or to watch passively as they hit his ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin chose the peaceful option.
This cautious response may harm the image of the Russian leader as a strong man, but he will not undermine what he has achieved in Syria nor harm his power at home.
The Kremlin had warned Washington that Russia would fight every blow that threatens its soldiers in Syria. The West respected this red line and warned of Saturday's attack, just as it did a year ago when it hit a Syrian Air Force Base. Russia, and then did not react, but this time he threatened to blow back.
Such a collision could quickly come out of control - an extremely dangerous scenario that was often compared to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when the world fled a nuclear conflict.
"Together with our allies, we made the Russians warned," said French Defense Minister Florence Parley. US-led air strikes were a response to a supposed chemical attack on civilians on April 7 in the Syrian city Duma. Russia said its experts did not find traces of chemical agents.
A senior French official said President Emanuel Macron did not tell Putin about the blows when he spoke on Friday but had already been deployed "certain mechanisms to avoid conflicts" and "they both knew that this new phase would begin soon ". Putin condemned Saturday's attacks as an "act of aggression" that would worsen the humanitarian disaster in Syria and have a "devastating impact on the whole system of international relations." He criticized Washington and his allies for attacking without waiting for the international arms embargoed inspectors to visit Duma, in the immediate vicinity of Damascus.
Russian military said their anti-aircraft complexes at both Syrian bases followed the coming missiles but were not used.
On Saturday, Russian social media raged nationalistic comments condemning Putin that he had failed to protect his ally. But state television concentrates on criticism of the West that it acted on the basis of a "false chemical attack". Strict control of the Kremlin over the media will help Putin avoid any major damage to his carefully cultivated image of a strong leader. In fact, his cautious stance may increase his popularity amid fears of war that overwhelmed Russia. In recent days, the state media has provided instructions for behavior in the event of a nuclear conflict and what stocks to take in the havens.
Most Russians will now sigh with relief and feel thankful for Putin that he has retreated from the brink. The state television channels compared the US President Donald Trump's reckless actions to Putin's responsible position.
Fedor Lukyanov, head of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, an organization of senior Russian security and foreign policy experts, told state television that Moscow's warning to strike "was obviously not neglected by the Pentagon and the shot was too cautious" .
The Kremlin will also use the crisis to continue developing its thesis of the aggressive West, which throws the world into chaos and does not respect international law. Russian officials and lawmakers compared him with the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which was based on allegations that Baghdad is likely to develop chemical weapons - allegations that turned out to be fake.
State TV commentators pointed out that Trump and British Prime Minister Teresa May had carried out the attack to divert attention from their internal political problems.
Putin has so far limited his response to calls for an extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council.
No military measures were immediately announced but, as a clear warning to the United States and their allies, Colonel General Sergei Rudskoy of the Russian General Staff said Moscow could reinforce Syrian anti-aircraft complexes from Soviet times with the most modern C-300 rocket batteries. He pointed out that Moscow had so far listened to Western requests not to supply Damascus with such missiles, but now the decision can be rethought. Rudczko added that Moscow could also deliver missiles to other countries, perhaps considering Iran, which in the past received the C-300. The purpose of this statement was to make the West not carry out any new attacks on Syria that could jeopardize President Bashar Assad's victory on the battlefield, where Russian support helped him to control most strategic areas.
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