What else could he do? He certainly wasn't going to admit his retreat was a failure, now was he? He also wasn't going to compromise his assets in Turkey, was he?
He never mentioned Russia. I have a feeling that this action, as well as his attack on Ukraine (scapegoating them for Russian election meddling), was orchestrated by putin himself.
And all in all, his cult will cheer him as being the greatest of all time...