TEHRAN, Iran — Eight months after the start of its military campaign, Russia has been successful in presenting itself as an influential international player in Syria. Along with Iran, it has been recognized as one of two states publicly supporting the Syrian government’s military operations against rebel and terrorist groups. This has prompted discussion of an alliance between Moscow and Tehran, with plenty of debate on what connects the two on Syria. But what is less debated is the important issue of what disconnects them.

Iran has steadily — and increasingly — supported the Syrian government since the outset of the crisis back in 2011. In contrast, just six months after Russia’s first airstrikes in Syria, Moscow declared a partial withdrawal of troops and its readiness to focus on finding a political solution together with the United States. Moreover, while senior Iranian officials have repeatedly said that the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a red line and any precondition that involves removing Assad is unacceptable, the Russians have been more flexible on this point. Indeed, most recently, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Assad “is not Moscow's ally like Ankara is to Washington.” Furthermore, while Iran has always emphasized the necessity of preserving Syria’s centralized and unitary system of governance, Russian officials have occasionally expressed support for the idea of federalism — or at least not seriously opposed it.

The trajectory of Russian policy toward Syria suggests that it is based on a logic that can be described as “pragmatic minimalism.” It is pragmatic because its goal is to guarantee Russia’s obvious and specific interests in Syria, topped by the securing of its military bases in the west of the country and its access to the Mediterranean region. It is minimalist since the Russians are open to concessions and cooperation with the United States on any issue except these “hard” interests. In this vein, Russian policy rests on three fundamental pillars.

First, Russia’s most important objective is to preserve its geopolitical interests in western Syria. In fact, Moscow only decided to get militarily involved after rebel and terrorist advances raised the specter that such groups could dominate western regions. This is the only issue on which the Russians will not compromise.