“It is possible that the fight against the Islamic State is used as a bargaining chip on behalf of Russia in the settling of other conflicts, such as the Ukrainian crisis,” Professor Vladimir Chukov, expert in Arabic science, said speaking for Radio FOCUS.

In his words, Russia’s expanded presence on the territory of Syria can be considered as an attempt to exert pressure on the Western partners so as to ease or lift the sanctions over another regional crisis, such as the crisis in Ukraine, which put Russia into isolation.

Professor Chukov commented further that the fight against the terrorists might lead to geopolitical reshuffles in the Middle East.

The expert thinks that those, who defeat the terrorists, will share the influence in the areas controlled by the Islamic State at the moment.

“We see that in parallel with Russia we have activation of another power, another factor that has geopolitical interests in this part of the world. This is France. Few days ago it launched air raids against the Islamic State in Syria,” Mr Chukov commented further.

He added that there were different geopolitical ambitions hidden under the pretext of fight against the Islamic State, which to some great extent might complicate the fight against the terrorists.