According to him, the “rough blunder” of the administration of former President Barack Obama allowed Russia to consolidate its position in Syria and in the whole region, TASS reports.
"I think that the Obama administration at its own peril and risk welcomed the arrival of Russia to Syria, thinking that it would put (Moscow. - RT ) in a difficult situation, and Russia turned the tide of the war, and the Assad regime remains there," he said.
In his opinion, this allowed Russia to create a base in the region and “gave it courage” for further steps.
“For 45 years, this has been the cornerstone of American politics - to keep Russia away from the Middle East,” he added.
According to Schenker, Russia in the Middle East “plays a destructive role”, and the United States believes that it “should leave” the region.
In the fall of 2019, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Foreign Ministers of Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE during the negotiations on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session discussed, as the State Department reported, “challenges from Russia and China” in the region Persian Gulf.