The Russian operation in Syria clearly stretches far beyond its regional goals and has much to do with setting the boundaries of what the Kremlin considers a struggle to shape the world order. However, as 2015’s three months of intensive Russian action in the Middle East revealed, Moscow often misses the global forest for the trees.

Maxim A. Suchkov is an expert at the Russian International Affairs Council and a columnist for Al-Monitor’s Russia Pulse. He was previously a Fulbright Visiting Fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies and Visiting Fellow at New York University. He is the author of Essays on Russian Foreign Policy in the Caucasus and the Middle East (NOMOS Publishers, 2015). On Twitter: @Max_A_Suchkov.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/U.S. Air Force.