Despite developing relations with a number of Arab states that wish to see the toppling of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, Russia is not changing its position on Syria. At the same time, although Moscow seems to be acting without a backward glance at Iran, some experts believe it will take into account certain nuances in Iran's regional policy. In Russian official circles, Damascus is considered the force most capable of stopping the jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) and other terrorist organizations, and cooperation with the Syrian government is vital to the struggle against IS. Moscow is decisively against classifying the extremists as “bad” or “good,” viewing such positions by Western and some regional countries as short-sighted. Russian analysts are also expressing concern over the extremely complicated economic situation in Syria as a result of the bloody and destructive conflict.

At the Oct. 22-24 meeting of the Russia-Syria intergovernmental commission on trade, economic and scientific research cooperation in Sochi, Russian and Syrian representatives discussed how to strengthen cooperation between the two countries. On Oct. 23, Kommersant, citing economic sources in the Russian government, reported that Syrian representatives led by Minister of Finance Ismail Ismail were going to ask Russia to grant them a state credit in the amount of $1 billion. Syria is badly in need of these funds to support its currency exchange rate and to fulfill social commitments. According to the publication, the Russian Finance Ministry responded coolly, probably taking into account both Russia's own complexities caused by sanctions and the fact that all official Syrian financial organizations are sanctioned by the United States and European Union. At the commission's previous meeting in May, the decision was made to provide a 240 million euro ($300 million) grant to Syria to resolve a number of social problems.

This time, according to the Russian media, the parties discussed a number of serious issues pertaining to Moscow-Damascus economic cooperation within the framework of the Eurasian project. Taking into account that Syria had previously submitted an official request to create a free trade zone with Russia, at this time another agreement was executed. Some specific issues of commodities exchange development, probably more important than they were before the Ukrainian crisis, were also reviewed in Sochi. Deputy Minister of Economic Development Alexey Likhachev told the TASS news agency that in late December, at the meeting of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), where one of the issues to be discussed would be “nonpreferential agreements” on the “green corridors” zone, the EEC would make a proposal on Syria, but the decision would have to be made by the president.

Russian companies show interest in large projects such as oil and gas field development or power plant construction, but have serious doubts about initiating them in conditions of armed conflict. However, this discussion was about post-war reconstruction of the country. Vice-Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, heading the Russian side of the intergovernmental commission with Syria, said that the Russia-Syria projects under discussion “also relate to the period that, we hope, will follow the war. This is the post-war reconstruction, post-war regulation of the economy.”