The Russian deployment of soldiers, or 'advisers', and modern equipment is explained by Moscow as a means to prop up the global fight against ISIS in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.
But the reality is that the Russians are looking to prop up what is left of
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
's "useful Syria" -- or the "mini" Alawite coastal state -- which is seen as the endgame for Damascus should it fail to regain all of Syria.
The Russian move is also tacitly intended to deny Tehran a monopoly in any future settlement of the Syrian crisis.
The Latakia area seems to be teetering as opposition forces group and edge closer, travelling through the al-Ghab valley.
Regime troops aided by local Alawite militias trained by the Iranians, and supported by Iraqi, Afghani and Lebanese militias and recruits, look destined to fail in defending Assad's heartland of Latakia in the long run.
But for the option of a "mini Syria" state to remain viable, then the coastal areas need to remain intact.
And Russia under President Vladimir Putin
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...is expert at keeping loyal enclaves protected, as we saw in the Crimea region, and later in Eastern Ukraine.
The Kremlin's renewed effort in Syria also acts as a counterbalance to an active Iranian agenda, which is seen as a policy to extend its foothold in the Mediterranean through propping up a weak Syria without a strong central army.
Washington, though still firm in its policy of fighting ISIS being its sole priority in the Middle East, sees no issue in allowing Moscow space to promote what it has long called for.