Russia exploited Syria as weapons testing ground in preparation for Ukraine invasion

Before launching last week's illegal invasion of Ukraine, one that has already killed scores of civilians and drawn worldwide rebuke, the Russian military tested its arsenal in Syria, using Syrians as guinea pigs and their country as a training ground.

Russia has made no secret of its exploitation of its role in Syria, freely admitting it has tested "all of the Russian latest weapons systems there".

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia has tested more than 320 types of weapons in Syria, the Russian news agency, TASS, reported August 30.

"In fact, we have tested all the weapons [in Syria], except for easy-to-understand versions," he said, going on to boast that the Russian defence industry has considerably strengthened its position in recent years.

Helicopters manufactured by Rostvertol at a facility in Rostov-on-Don also were tested in Syria, Shoigu said during a visit to the factory, and their weapons capabilities were refined as a result.

Likewise, Russian Uran 9 tanks were refined after use in Syria, previous reports said.

In June, the Breaking Defence digital magazine reported that Israeli sensors had monitored what analysts suspected to be the Russian air force testing of a Kinzhal hypersonic missile over the Mediterranean, fired from Syria.

Israeli sources said the test was probably performed after a Russian aircraft took off from the Russian-controlled Hmeimim air base in Syria's Latakia province.

The KH-47M2 Kinzhal is an air-launched Russian nuclear capable missile with a range of 2,000km that can reach a speed of Mach 10 and is capable of performing evasive manoeuvres, the magazine said.

Russian media reported that the Kinzhal missile was fired from a MiG-31K aircraft at a virtual target in the Mediterranean.

Testing ground

Russia has been testing weapons in Syria since it entered the war in 2015, as stated in August 2017 by Russia's then Deputy Defence Minister Yury Borisov, when he visited an arms expo outside Moscow, Interfax news agency reported.

"Practically all new items have passed through the Syrian theatre of war in order for us to have an opportunity to see what their real characteristics are and how these weapons are behaving," Borisov said.

"We had to give up on a number of weapon items because practice showed that they could not withstand the requirements that were demanded of them," he said.

In 2018, Russian MP Vladimir Shamanov said Russia had tested "over 200 new types of weapons" in Syria "as we helped the brotherly Syrian people", AFP reported on February 2 of that year.

The claim came amid accusations that Russia had taken part in deadly airstrikes against opposition-held Eastern Ghouta outside Damascus, in which more than 350 civilians were killed over a five-day period.

It also came amid reports that Russia had deployed its Su-57 stealth fighter prototype in Syria, with a source telling RBK news agency that two planes were sent to Hmeimim "for a test in real conditions".

Russia, which entered the fray in Syria to prop up the regime of Bashar al-Assad, has been accused of indiscriminate bombing throughout the conflict, causing massive civilian casualties.

Human rights abuses in Syria

Last April, rights groups in Moscow issued a damning report on Russia's role in the conflict, urging Russians to take responsibility for abuses in Syria.

Prepared by Memorial, Russia's most prominent rights group, and several other organisations, the 200-page report sought to shed light on the victims of the country's military actions in Syria.

It included interviews with more than 150 witnesses of events in Syria.

"The overwhelming majority of our interviewees do not see Russia as a saviour, but as a destructive foreign force whose military and political intervention helped bolster the war criminal heading their country," the rights organisations said.

"Some of the people we interviewed revealed that they or their loved ones had been victims of Russian bombings."

The Kremlin shut down Memorial late last year, in a move critics and historians said was the clearest sign yet of its desire to control not only Russia's present but its past as well.

In light of its assault on Ukraine, critics note, it seems that with the closure of Memorial, the Kremlin also sought to obscure Russia's conscience.