By Irina Severin | UAObserver
Increased Russian propaganda activity about a possible Putin's ground operation in Syria was started by Putin himself in order to draw the West into a ground conflict with ISIS. The trick is simple: if the Kremlin talks about a ground operation against ISIS, then the West would want to get ahead of the Kremlin and be the first to send troops for a ground operation.
The Kremlin hopes to put the West on the wrong track and thus weaken it physically, financially and morally. Putin wants that not Russia, but the West get stuck in the Middle East the same way as the Soviet Union got stuck in Afghanistan before the collapse. Putin also wants to set up the entire Muslim world against the West, and not against Russia.
Russia practically invests nothing in the war in Syria - all military operations taking place as a way of utilization of outdated Soviet equipment. It is more expensive to dispose of it in Russia than to bomb the Assad opposition in Syria. The second direction is a test of new weaponry. Of course, if the information about its existence is not a propagandist bluff from the start - a typical psychological attack designed for preventive intimidation of the enemy.