. >> reporter: syria has been buying its military weapons from russia since assad's father fatah al assadia's naval facility in syria's port is russia's only military spot remaining. at least 25,000 russian women are married to syrians according to russian media. and ties of religion. the largest christian denomination in syria, as in russia, is the orthodox church. and muslims fear if they win, they will be decimated. but the deepest reason the kremlin sticks with assad is russia's anger over any military unilateral action or the regime change. it started with nato's 1999 air campaign against russia's ally serbia. it got worse when the west launched air strikes against libya's moammar gadhafi in 2011. >> mr. putin basically came to the conclusion that never again. this will never happen again, that they will stick by mr. assad and syria. not because they particularly like mr. assad but because they see him as the legitimate leader of syria. >> reporter: they predict if assad falls, what coming after him could be even worse. jill dougherty, cnn, washington. >>> startling comments from the