What and whom is Russia defending in Syria?

This is a simple reason why Russia immediately reacted to the US airstrike against Syrian government troops on April 7 and called it an act of aggression. A very accurate legal term.
The attack on Syria – a country at the forefront of combating terrorism – clearly played into the hands of terrorists, aggravating problems the world is facing and further undermining regional stability. Needless to say it did not facilitate, to put it mildly, the peace negotiations painstakingly jumpstarted in Astana and Geneva.
Since this act of aggression is an established fact – unlike the unfounded accusations against Syria’s government of using chemical weapons – everyone should have treated the unacceptable American behaviour the same way. But instead we see waterfalls of hypocritical attempts to justify it pouring on our heads and misleading the international community.
Hypocrisy is indeed becoming a global problem, no less dangerous than terrorism, drugs or climate change. 
Six years ago, the so-called Arab Spring glorified by the West led to the devastation of Libya and Yemen and triggered turmoil in Egypt and Tunisia. In Syria the hypocrites pumped enormous amounts of money and weapons to local extremist armies (they call them “moderate opposition”!) in an attempt to topple Bashaar al-Assad. But when the “political engineers” realised their plan had failed they decided to accuse Damascus of using chemical weapons (though the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has confirmed that Syria does not possess them any more). 
And now we witness the old tactics being applied again. Instead of conducting a thorough investigation, the professional manipulators clutched at the tragedy in Khan Sheikhun, Idlib Province, last Tuesday and began showing photographs of its victims (second edition of the infamous Colin Powell’s “white powder”) trying to convince the world that the US had a right to violate the UN Charter because they felt sorry for Syria’s “beautiful babies”. (May I ask why didn’t they feel sorry for beautiful babies in Vietnam in the early ’70s? And how about babies in Belgrade? Or babies in Kunduz? Or babies in Mosul?) While some pretended to be looking for a peaceful solution in the UN Security Council, others were preparing a military solution – hypocrisy in the making. And after the US did what was prohibited by international law they started to blame Russia! Hypocrisy triumphed.
But what is Russia’s real role? Whom and what is Russia defending in Syria? See for yourself. 
Is it Bashar al-Assad? No. Russia will remain a friend of Syria, even if the Syrians – through reconciliation, peace talks and fair democratic polls – elect another president. Our partnership with the peoples of the Middle East has been tested by many crises and decades of shared history.
Is Russia defending those who use chemical weapons? No. Russia is strictly committed to its international obligations. We condemn the use of chemical weapons and prove our prudence by deeds, not just words. It was Russia and China that proposed to adopt a UN Security Council resolution to prevent the use of chemical weapons in Syria (it was rejected by the US, UK and France). It was Russia which initiated sending a UN fact-finding team to Idlib, where the blast at the chemical substances depot took place last week, to conduct an impartial and careful investigation of the accident (it was turned down too).
Is Russia defending its strategic or economic interests? No. Believe it or not, but Russia has more important agenda at home and in its immediate neighbourhood. The Syrian economy is now lying flat and cannot be a source of revenues. To the contrary, it needs urgent material help from abroad and after the war will require even more financial, economic and technical assistance.
To all honest and independently thinking individuals it is obvious that in Syria Russia is fighting against international terrorism to nip it in the bud and not to let suicide bombers come to our and your cities. Russia is defending the friendly people of Syria who are being killed and tortured by ISIS, al-Nusra and the like. Russia is defending Christians who are chased away from their homes. Russia is defending the cultural heritage which is being destroyed by the barbarians. Russia is defending the legitimate government which has become prey of international terrorists and dishonest politicians. Russia is defending international law, which has been flagrantly violated. And lastly, Russia is defending truth against hypocrisy – one of the biggest global problems of the modern day.    
Kirill Barsky
Russian Ambassador to Thailand