Putin Tries to Put Positive Spin on Russian Setback in Syria

President Vladimir V.Putin said on Thursday that Russia was still considering whether to keep its military bases in Syria and claimed that most Middle Eastern countries and ruling factions in Syria wanted Russia to stay.“I don’t know — we’ll need to think about it,” Mr.

Putin said at a news conference, referring to whether Russia would keep those bases.“We’ll need to decide for ourselves how our relationships will look with those political forces that now control and will control the situation in the country in the future.

Our interests need to coincide.”Commenting about Syria for the first time since the rule of Russia’s close ally Bashar al-Assad collapsed there on Dec.8, Mr.

Putin tried to cast the stunning turn of events as something other than a defeat for Russia and to portray Russia as being in control of its own fate.Analysts say that, in fact, Russia’s standing as a world power is likely to suffer as a result of Mr.al-Assad’s fall, especially if it loses its Tartus naval base and Hmeimim air base in Syria.

Both have been key to Russia’s ability to project its influence across Africa and the Mediterranean.Moscow intervened in Syria’s civil war in 2015, beginning several years of fierce airstrikes that helped Mr.al-Assad stay in power.But after the start of the surprise rebel offensive last month, Iranian and pro-Iranian fighters backing Mr.

al-Assad on the ground chose not to resist the rebel advance, Mr.Putin said.

Instead, they asked for Russia’s assistance in evacuating from Syria, he said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....