MOSCOW, February 21. /TASS/. Russia’s anti-terrorist operation in Syria has made it possible to break the chain of color revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Tuesday.
"The use of our group in Syria has made it possible to resolve a geopolitical task and break the chain of color revolutions replicated in the Middle East and Africa," he said at the opening of the 2nd All-Russia Youth Forum dedicated to international military political and military economic cooperation at Moscow’s State Institute of International Relations, or MGIMO University.
"It is important to stress that we are not only exterminating terrorists in Syria and liberating that country from them, we are also solving the task of not allowing extremists reach our country," he added.
He said that color revolutions as a new phenomenon of international life entail negative military, political and economic aftereffects in various regions of the world. "The wave of color revolutions has caused serious changes in the global politics and tilted the balance of forces in the world and in regions. Yugoslavia, Georgia, Iraq, Libya, Ukraine, Syria - here is an incomplete list of states where the color revolution scenario was tested," Shoigu said.
"The West considers them [color revolutions] as a way to propagate democracy through non-violent toppling of ‘undemocratic’ regimes. However military analysis of the developments that took place in the Middle East and North Africa proves the contrary, i.e. that the factor of military force is part and parcel of color revolutions," he stressed.
According to the minister, this factor is present at all stages of escalations of such ‘revolutions’ and domestic conflict they entail. "At first, military potential of a coalition of countries that are behind the toppling of an unwanted government is used to exert open pressure on it not to let it use law enforcement agencies to restore law and order. Later on, as domestic opposition unleashes combat operations against government troops foreign states provide military and economic assistance to the rebels," he noted.
The color revolutions can spread even wider, Shoigu stressed.
"There is a high possibility that color revolutions will spread even wider since arranging a color revolution allows to destroy regional powers as well as achieve political and economic goals while spending little resources and using a small amount of weapons," the minister said.
Shoigu said that it was only possible to stop the spread of color revolutions if the world community maintained close cooperation. "As you may know, talks on Syria took place in late January in Astana upon an initiative put forward by our president. We believe that the Astana platform may become an effective tool for solving the Syrian crisis,’ the Russian defense minister added.