The Kremlin is once again seeking to use the Kurds, the largest stateless national group in the world, for Moscow’s own purposes. In particular, Russia has opened a quasi-diplomatic representation office in Moscow for Syria’s Kurds. Moreover, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the outspoken leader of the fringe nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) who is believed to have close ties to the Kremlin, has said that Russia would recognize an independent Kurdistan if Turkey sends its forces into Syria (Svopi.ru, February 13). But counter-intuitively, these signals actually highlight the limits on Russia’s ability to exploit the Kurdish issue given that an …read more
Source: The Jamestown Foundation