Russia's Syria policy in the context of its security interest (2011-2016)

Russia, which emerged as the successor of the Soviet Union after its dissolution in 1991, initially defined its security with internal and economic issues. It is envisaged that these security problems can be solved by acting with the USA and the West. However, events such as the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the 1999 Kosovo Intervention, which took place later under the leadership of the USA and the West, showed that Russia could not be resolved by acting with the West, and decided that it would be balancing them rather than with the West and the US to protect Russia's security. In this context, it affects the security of Russia in many ways in what is happening in Syria, a state that is important for itself and its security. In the thesis, how Syria affects Russia's security interests is investigated. In order to analyze Russia's Syria policy in the context of Russia's security interests, the threat balance model of Stephan Walt was chosen among the power balance models in the thesis. The theory is explained in the first part. In the second part, the security policy of Russia is analyzed. Factors forming the security culture of Russia and the change of security perception are explained. In the third part, the alliance of the two countries in terms of their security relationship is discussed. In the fourth part, the Syrian Crisis that emerged between 2011-2016; It has been studied in the context of threats perceived by Russia.