On January 19, 2021, Dr. Vladimir A. Orlov, Director of the PIR Center, gave an interview to Security Index journal.
SECURITY INDEX: In your recent op-ed column, co-authored with Sergey Semenov and published by Kommersant Daily, you stated that “Russia and the United States, as major nuclear-weapo...
The Middle East remains one of the zones of high tension and instability in the contemporary world. Today, new challenges – e.g., international terrorism, the crises in Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, and Syria – are adding to the old and deeply rooted problems created by the Arab-Israeli conflict. The un...
MOSCOW, DECEMBER 6, 2012. PIR PRESS – “We cannot exclude the situation when Damascus would have to recognize its defeat and having nothing to lose might use the chemical weapons as the last resort. This however, will bring only temporary relief for the regime depriving it from all the international support it enjoys. Nevertheless, the recent cases of Iraq and Libya where the governmental forces even on the brink of collapse have never decided to use weapons of mass destruction seem to be in favor of a scenario where Assad’s regime will restrains itself from such a move," - PIR Center expert Alexander Plugarev
Speaking at the National War College in Washington December 3, 2012, US President Barack Obama warned that the United States consider the use of chemical weapons in Syria as unacceptable: “I want to make it absolutely clear to Assad and those under his command, the world is watching. The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable. If you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons there will be consequences and you will be held accountable.”
Despite numerous assurances of the Syrian government stating that it will not apply chemical weapons against its own people, the American media referring to its sources in the Pentagon announced that the Damascus accomplished mixing of the zarin gas and dislocated it in the air bombs.
Our expert on chemical weapons Alexander Plugarev writing in PIR Center blog emphasize that “we cannot exclude the situation when Damascus would have to recognize its defeat and having nothing to lose might use the chemical weapons as the last resort. This however, will bring only temporary relief for the regime depriving it from all the international support it enjoys. Nevertheless, the recent cases of Iraq and Libya where the governmental forces even on the brink of collapse have never decided to use weapons of mass destruction seem to be in favor of a scenario where Assad’s regime will restrains itself from such a move”.
According to the PIR Center Internet Project Director Andrey Baklitskiy "the recent actions taken by Damascus, threats to use its chemical weapons are attempt to deter foreign powers from an intervention. At the same time, technical preparation to use weapons of mass destruction may cause the opposite effect and encourage Western states to support the rebel forces directly. As we can see spiral of the Syrian conflict twists harder."
PIR Center continues to carefully follow the developments of the Syrian conflict.
For more comments of the PIR Center experts please contact Internet Project Director Andrey Baklitskiy by phone: +7 (495) 987-19-15 or e-mail: baklitsky at pircenter.org
