--- title: Watch Ian Bremmer on What the Future Holds for Russia description: The migrant crisis is boosting Putin's popularity in Europe canonical: https://time.com/4090361/watch-ian-bremmer-discuss-what-the-future-holds-for-russia/ author: TIME Video article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-28T15:46:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:08:15.043Z article:section: World og:title: Watch Ian Bremmer on What the Future Holds for Russia og:description: The migrant crisis is boosting Putin's popularity in Europe og:url: https://time.com/4090361/watch-ian-bremmer-discuss-what-the-future-holds-for-russia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e8021cb5b521971/69886e6fab6d7721f96a6def/bremmer_putin_1920x1080.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Bremmer_Putin_1920x1080 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Ian Bremmer on What the Future Holds for Russia twitter:description: The migrant crisis is boosting Putin's popularity in Europe twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e8021cb5b521971/69886e6fab6d7721f96a6def/bremmer_putin_1920x1080.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why European Leaders Are Repairing Ties With Putin by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Oct 28, 2015 3:46 PM CUT  by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Oct 28, 2015 3:46 PM CUT Russia’s economy [continues to buckle](http://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/27/russias-reserve-fund-could-run-empty-in-2016.html "undefined") under the weight of low oil prices and international sanctions, but President Vladimir Putin has plenty of reasons to be cheerful. His domestic popularity ratings have never been higher, as Russia continues to launch air strikes in Syria under the rubric of helping President Bashar al-Assad fight ISIS terrorists — though its jets have [bombed opposition fighters there](http://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-steps-up-bombing-campaign-in-syria-1444656419 "undefined"). And tension with the West has eased too; violence in eastern Ukraine has subsided as European leaders [hammer out a peace process](http://www.wsj.com/articles/merkel-hollande-talk-of-syria-ukraine-with-putin-1443814443 "undefined") with Russia and Ukraine to stage democratic elections in the former Soviet republic. Ian Bremmer, TIME editor-at-large and president of the Eurasia Group, discusses why European leaders like French President François Hollande are slowly repairing ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and what the country’s support of the Assad regime in Syria means for the U.S. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4090361/watch-ian-bremmer-discuss-what-the-future-holds-for-russia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4090361/watch-ian-bremmer-discuss-what-the-future-holds-for-russia/"},"headline":"Why European Leaders Are Repairing Ties With Putin","datePublished":"2015-10-28T15:46:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:08:15.043Z","description":"The migrant crisis is boosting Putin's popularity in Europe","url":"https://time.com/4090361/watch-ian-bremmer-discuss-what-the-future-holds-for-russia/","keywords":["russia","europe","Syria","ISIS","World","Ian Bremmer","migrant crisis"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e8021cb5b521971/69886e6fab6d7721f96a6def/bremmer_putin_1920x1080.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e8021cb5b521971/69886e6fab6d7721f96a6def/bremmer_putin_1920x1080.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bremmer_Putin_1920x1080","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4090361/watch-ian-bremmer-discuss-what-the-future-holds-for-russia/","name":"Why European Leaders Are Repairing Ties With Putin"}}]}] ```