The future of Syria has to be worked out at a negotiating table, not on the battlefield. Vladimir Putin knows this. It is therefore unsurprising that after two years spent bombarding the Syrian opposition as well as Islamic State he now presents himself as a benevolent mediator. Yet for the Russian president peace talks are an extension of war by other means to secure the regime of his client dictator, Bashar al-Assad, whose speciality until now has been the murder and mass arrest of his citizens.
In the Russian resort of Sochi this week Mr Putin publicly embraced Assad, who had slipped out of Damascus for a few hours. The encounter between the Butcher of Damascus and his protector was followed by another Sochi summit