 groups have accused Russia of killing more than a thousand civilians well for more on this we're joined now by William Taylor he's the executive vice president of the US Institute of Peace he's joining us live from Washington DC Mr. Taylor very good to have you with us on Al Jazeera so on the face of it it seems like the Syrian government is going to be losing military support from Russia from today's decision just how much of a loss could this be for the Syrian government especially given just how much Russia's military involvement changed the course of the war to the Syrian government's advantage there's no doubt that the Syrian government is is dramatically reduced in its effectiveness now on in military but it's also very worried I imagined that it's losing out the support on the diplomatic front it is very possible that this indicates that the Russians are reducing their support for Syria and for Bashar al-Assad's government right at the beginning of the negotiation so this ought to be a boost for demistura and the negotiations and I would imagine the Syrian government is worried will Russia have less influence with the Syrian government if they stop their military support I mean just how much influence do you think the Russians have with the Syrian government the Syrian government it was clearly dependent on the Russian so the Russians had a lot of influence with Bashar al-Assad and they were paying a price for that influence that it's very expensive to mount that kind of military campaign and the Russian economy is under great stress not just from low oil prices but the sanctions that the West that the Europeans that the Americans have on the Russians because of their invasion and annexation of Crimea and their continued interference in southeastern Ukraine those sanctions low oil prices bad economy that it was a recipe for big problems on the economic front so the Russians had a lot of pressure on them to get out and that is causing the problem for the Syrian government and what did Russia get do you think out of this very expensive operation in Syria because Russia's foothold in Syria remains though in the way of that air base and naval base is that significant I don't think that is particularly militarily significant if they withdraw the large number of aircraft that they have there they're the aircraft have been very effective against a lot of the rebels and as well as what they call the terrorist group so without that aircraft their military capability is is reduced they do want to apparently the Russians want to maintain a presence in Syria to maintain some ability to influence events there William Taylor executive vice president of the US Institute of peace thank you very much for your time thank you thank thank you