Russia’s Middle Eastern policy. Regional ambitions, global objectives
Russia’s Middle Eastern policy. Regional ambitions, global objectives

Author(s): Witold Rodkiewicz
Contributor(s): Adam Eberhardt (Editor), Marek Menkiszak (Editor), Halina Kowalczyk (Editor), Anna Łabuszewska (Editor), Katarzyna Kazimierska (Editor)
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, International relations/trade, Security and defense, Military policy, Geopolitics, Peace and Conflict Studies
Published by: OSW Ośrodek Studiów Wschodnich im. Marka Karpia
Keywords: Russia; Middle East; foreign policy; Middle Eastern policy; Russian military interventions; Syria; geopolitics; conflicts;
Summary/Abstract: The Russian military intervention in Syria began in autumn 2015 and was met with a wave of comments claiming that Russia had regained its global power position in the Middle East. The purpose of the present paper is to identify the nature of Russia’s position as a power in the Middle East and to trace the motives guiding the Kremlin’s Middle Eastern policy. The first part attempts to identify the place Middle Eastern policy occupies in the Kremlin’s overall foreign policy and Moscow’s priorities in the region. The second part describes the evolution of post-Soviet Russia’s Middle Eastern policy, pointing to its growing involvement in the region on the one hand, and the instrumental nature of that involvement on the other. Because the Russian military intervention in Syria has been the central element of Russia’s Middle Eastern policy since the autumn of 2015, the third part is devoted to analysing the reasons for and objectives of that intervention. Parts four and five delve into Russia’s policy towards the countries it considers its most important regional partners, i.e. Turkey and Iran. Part six attempts to analyse the instruments with which Russia has built its position in the region and to assess the outcomes of its Middle Eastern policy and the challenges ahead of that policy.

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