Syria conflict: Russia's scars from Afghanistan

It is more than 26 years since Soviet troops pulled out of Afghanistan. But today Russia, once again, is at war outside the former Soviet Union - in Syria.

The BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Moscow met some veterans of that Soviet war to find out what lessons were learnt.



Soviet troops fighting in Afghanistan in 1988

1 November 2015

Modern Russia often claims it has learnt the lessons of Afghanistan, and that never again will it allow itself to be sucked into a long bloody war, far from its borders.

Singer, songwriter and war veteran Vladimir Mazur hopes that is true.

"We lost so many young men in Afghanistan," he sings, "but there's no point grieving. We just have to make sure it never happens again."

At a war veterans' organisation in Moscow, he picks up his guitar and performs one of his songs. It's called Afghanistan Statistics.