RUSSIA-UKRAINIAN WAR IMPACT ON RUSSIA-SYRIA RELATIONS

The current Russia-Ukrainian war had a great impact not only on the mentioned states but also went beyond their territorial scope. The political chaos has particularly affected Russia's strategic partner, in particular Syria. The states of the Middle East are characterized by a politically unstable environment, which is facilitated by the unfavorable economic situation within the country, on the basis of which a large part of the population is impoverished. That is why the political representatives of the states of the mentioned region are looking for an important strategic partner/partners to rely on and thus maintain a dominant position in their country. Syria is no exception, in this case, its ally in the region is Iran, and the position of an external actor has been occupied by the Russian state in recent years. Of course, all three states have their own interests, on the basis of which they establish relations, for example, the presence of Assad in power and the neutralization of his opponents in the country depends on the power of Iran and the Russians. At the same time, Syria imports food products from Russia. In 2021, Russia undertook to supply wheat to Syria, however, the Russian-Ukrainian war stopped this process, because the area of its attention became Ukraine as a whole, therefore it tries to use all the resources produced by it to help this war. Against the background of the ongoing war, the supply of food resources in Syria slowed down and almost fell to a minimum from Russia, which contributed to further impoverishment of the population and, of course, an increase in prices was inevitable. According to experts in the field, Iran has been given the greatest chance to take full power in Syria in its own hands, due to the fact that the epicenter of Russia's attention is another state. It is important to note that Russia's influence has not weakened from a political point of view.