http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/vladimir-putin-syria-outfox-obama-220745
Vladimir Putin’s announcement on Monday that Russia will begin pulling out of Syria appeared to take the White House by surprise, and revived concerns that the Russian leader is outmaneuvering Barack Obama.
Just six months after he threw international relations into a tailspin by launching airstrikes in Syria, Putin on Monday declared that "the tasks put before the defense ministry have been completed over all,” adding that he had ordered that "the main part" of Russian forces in Syria would be withdrawn.
White House officials were left scrambling, with Press Secretary Josh Earnest punting on questions during the briefing and others trying to quickly gather information. “We have seen reports that President Putin has announced a planned withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria. We expect to learn more about this in the coming hours,” said one senior administration official on Monday afternoon.
A speedy Russian exit from Syria would confound President Barack Obama's talking point that Putin had walked into a "quagmire" in that country's civil war that he would come to regret. Obama made the case most recently in an interview with the Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, in which Obama said Russia was "overextended" and "bleeding" in Syria.
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