Russia intends to use in Syria its historical experience in restoring cities of the allied states in Europe, which were destroyed during World War Two, Newsweek reports.
Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of Russia’s National Defense Operations Center, said last week that Moscow should deal with the restoration of Syria on the basis of a model used for reviving the economy of the Soviet Union and its allies.
“The period of restoration of our country, initially estimated at 15 years, was reduced several times. In five years, the country became the world's second most powerful economic power,” Newsweek quotes Mizintsev as saying.
Since 2015, Russia has assisted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the war against insurgents and radical Islamists, who have lost a significant part of their territory. As a result of fierce clashes, most of the country's infrastructure was ruined.
However, unlike World War Two, Americans and Russians did not exchange courtesies on the front lines, Newsweek notes. Given that the Syrian government is determined to return all the country’s territories under its control, the US and its allies are unwilling to invest in the restoration of the regions controlled by Assad.
The situation, of course, can change. Last week, President Donald Trump announced after his first bilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki that he was ready to cooperate with Russia in the field of humanitarian aid to Syria. Nevertheless, the Pentagon did not agree with that statement and publicly announced that. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said that no changes in US policy in this area are expected.