Abstract
Over recent years, there has been a significant resurgence of Russian power and influence in the Middle East, which has been evident in the diplomatic and military intervention into Syria. This article identifies the principal factors behind Russia’s return to the region. First, there are domestic political influences with the coincidence of the uprisings in the Middle East, the so-called ‘Arab Spring,’ with large-scale domestic opposition protests within Russia during the elections in 2011–2012. Second, there is the role of ideas, most notably the growing anti-Westernism in Putin’s third presidential term, along with Russia’s own struggle against Islamist terrorism. These ideational factors contributed to Russia’s resolve to support the Assad government against both Western intervention and its domestic Islamist opposition. Third, Russia has benefited from a pragmatic and flexible approach in its engagement with the region. Moscow seeks to ensure that it is a critical actor for all the various states and political movements in the Middle East.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allison, R. 2013. Russia and the Syria crisis: Regional order and the controversy over regime change. International Affairs 89 (4): 795–823.
Averre, D. 2009. Competing rationalities: Russia, the EU and the “shared neighbourhood”. Europe-Asia Studies 61 (10): 1689–1713.
Baev, P.K. and K. Kirisci. 2017. An ambiguous partnership: The serpentine trajectory of Turkish–Russian relations in the era of Erdogan and Putin. Turkey project policy paper, 12. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/pavel-and-kirisci-turkey-and-russia.pdf. Accessed 20 Jan 2018.
Barman, Y. 2017. The politics of oil: How Russia pursues its energy dream in the Middle East. Al Sharq Forum, 4 March. http://www.sharqforum.org/2017/02/24/the-politics-of-oil-how-russia-pursues-its-energy-dream-in-the-middle-east/. Accessed 20 Jan 2018.
Barnes, J. 2017. The Middle East, Russia and President Obama’s legacy. Baker Institute for Public Policy Issue Brief, 19 January. https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/93927/BI-Brief-011917-ObamaFPLegacy.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. Accessed 20 Jan 2018.
Ben-Ami, S. 2016. Russia’s ephemeral Middle East alliances. Project Syndicate, 5 October. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/russia-ephemeral-middle-east-alliances-by-shlomo-ben-ami-2016-10?barrier=accessreg. Accessed 18 Jan 2018.
Borshchevskaya, A. 2016. The maturing of the Israeli–Russian relationship. Washingto Institute Policy Paper. http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/the-maturing-of-israeli-russian-relations. Accessed 20 Jan 2018.
Bouzarovski, S., and M. Bassin. 2011. Energy and identity: Imagining Russia as a hydrocarbon superpower. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 101 (4): 783–794.
Brown, L.C. 1984. International politics and the Middle East: Old rules, dangerous game. London: I. B. Tauris.
Chernenko, E. and M. Yusin. 2012. Kremlin wall stands behind Syria. Kommersant, 17 July.
Dannreuther, R. 2010. Russian discourses and approaches to Islam and islamism. In Russia and Islam: State society and radicalism, ed. R. Dannreuther, and L. March, 9–25. London: Routledge.
Dannreuther, R. 2012. Russia and the Middle East: A cold war paradigm? Europe-Asia Studies 64 (3): 543–560.
Demchenko, A. 2012. Arab Spring and Russian policy in the Middle East. Perspectivy. http://www.perspektivy.info/rus/desk/arabskaja_vesna_i_politika_rossii_v_blizhnevostochnom_regione_2012-09-15.htm. Accessed 13 Jan 2018.
Deyermond, R. 2016. The uses of sovereignty in twenty-first century Russian foreign policy. Europe-Asia Studies 68 (6): 957–984.
Fish, M.S. 2017. What is Putinism? Journal of Democracy 28 (4): 61–75.
Fitzpatrick, C.A. 2016. How many Russians are fighting for ISIS? A brief history of the Kremlin’s arbitrary numbers. The Interpreter. http://www.interpretermag.com/how-many-russians-are-fighting-for-isis-a-brief-history-of-the-kremlins-arbitrary-numbers/. Accessed 10 Jan 2018.
Fitzpatrick, D.D. 2017. In snub to U.S., Russia and Egypt move toward deal on air bases. New York Times, 30 November.
Gerges, F.A. 2013. The Obama approach to the Middle East: The end of America’s moment. International Affairs 89 (2): 299–323.
Grigoriev, E. 2011. Today Libya: Tomorrow everywhere. Nezavisimaya gazeta, 21 March.
Hannah, J. 2016. Russia’s Middle East offensive: Russia’s star is waxing while America’s wanes. Foreign Policy, 13 September. http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/09/13/russias-middle-east-offensive/. Accessed 20 Jan 2018.
Hutcheson, D.S., and B. Petersson. 2016. Short-cut to legitimacy: Popularity in Putin’s Russia. Europe-Asia Studies 68 (7): 1107–1126.
INSOR. 2010. Russia and the 21st century; sketch of the desired future. Moscow: Institute for Contemporary Development.
Ivanov, S. 2008 Where is Russia heading? New vision of pan-European security. https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-15324155.html. Accessed 10 Jan 2018.
Ivanov, M. and D. Kozlov. 2011. Resolution is ripe for Russia. Kommersant, 22 March.
Ivanov, I.S. (ed.). 2013a. Russia and the “New Elites” of the countries of the “Arab Spring”: Possibilities and perspectives on cooperation. Moscow: Russian Council on International Affairs.
Ivanov, I.S. 2013b. Russia and the greater Middle East. Moscow: Russian Council of International Affairs.
Katz, M.N. 2016a. Understanding Syria’s many conflicts. E-International Relations, 31 August. http://www.e-ir.info/2016/08/31/understanding-syrias-many-conflicts/. Accessed 20 Jan 2018.
Katz, M.N. 2016b. Russian-Iranian relations: Troubled ties. Lobelog. https://lobelog.com/russian-iranian-relations-troubled-ties/. Accessed 10 Jan 2018.
Kennedy, P. 1987. The rise and fall of great powers. New York: Random House.
Kozhanov, N. 2016. Russia’s foothold in Iran: Why Tehran changes its mind. Carnegie Moscow Centre Commentary, 5 September. http://carnegie.ru/commentary/64471. Accessed 20 Jan 2018.
Levada. 2015. Net approval levels of Putin and Medvedev, 2010–2014. http://www.levada.ru/indeksy. Accessed 20 July 2015.
Lukmanov, A. 2013. Russian Muslims and the “Arab Spring”. International Affairs 59 (2): 101–116.
Mandour, M. 2016. Egypt’s shift from Saudi Arabia to Russia. Carnegie Endowment, Sana Middle East Analysis, 3 November. http://carnegieendowment.org/sada/65030. Accessed 10 Feb 2018.
Montefiore, S.S. 2015. Putin’s imperial adventure in Syria. New York Times, 9 November. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/09/opinion/putins-imperial-adventure-in-syria.html. Accessed 13 Feb 2018.
Naumkin, V. 2006. Evroislam kak naslednik dzhadidizma. In Forumy Rossiskykh musul’man na poroge novogo tysyacheletiya, ed. D.V. Mukhetdinova. Medina: Nizhnii Novgorod.
Oliker, O., K. Crane, L.H. Schwartz and C. Yusupov. 2009. Russian foreign policy: Sources and implications. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2009/RAND_MG768.pdf. Accessed 10 Jan 2018.
Putin, V. 2012. Russia and the changing world. Rossiskaya gazeta. http://www.rg.ru/2012/02/27/putin-politika.html. Accessed 10 Jan 2018.
Putin, V. 2013. Putin talks NSA, Syria, Iran, drones in Russian television Interview. RT, 12 June. http://rt.com/news/putin-rt-interview-full-577/. Accessed 20 Jan 2018.
Putin, V. 2015. Speech delivered to the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly, New York. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/28/read-putins-u-n-general-assembly-speech/?utm_term=.04d6e30409bf. Accessed 10 Jan 2018.
Robinson, N. 2017. Russian neo-patrimonialism and Putin’s ‘cultural turn’. Europe-Asia Studies 69 (2): 348–366.
Rutland, P. 2008. Russia as an energy superpower. New Political Economy 13 (2): 203–210.
Sakwa, R. 2014. Putin redux: Power and contradiction in contemporary Russia. London: Routledge.
Samarina, A. 2011. Tandem tests strength before 2012 election. Nezavisimaya gazeta, 23 March.
Sladden, J., B. Wasser, B. Connable and S. Grand-Clement. 2017. Russian strategy in the Middle East. Santa Monica CA; Rand Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE236.html. Accessed 10 Jan 2018.
Sokolov, M. 2011. Is Russia threatened by a popular revolution as in the Arab Countries. http://www.svobodanews.ru/content/transcript/2323664. Accessed 6 June 2013.
Stepanova, E. 2016. Russia in the Middle East: Back to a ‘grand strategy’—or enforcing multilateralism. Politique Etrangère 2: 23–35.
Surkov, V. 2006. Sovereignty: It is a political synonym for competitiveness’. In Sovereignty, ed. N. Garadzha. Moscow: Evropa.
Suslov, D. 2012. Arab revolutions and Russian-US relations. http://www.hse.ru/data/2011/04/27/1210609292/Apace%20peo%20%20P-CA.pdf. Accessed 15 Aug 2014.
Trenin, D. 2017. Russia and Iran: Historic mistrust and contemporary partnership. Carnegie Moscow Centre. http://carnegie.ru/2016/08/18/russia-and-iran-historic-mistrust-and-contemporary-partnership-pub-64365. Accessed 10 Jan 2018.
Tsygankov, A. 2013. La Russie et le moyen-orient: Entre islamisme et occidentalisme. Politique Etrangère 78 (1): 79–91.
Tsygankov, A.P. 2016. Crafting the state-civilisation: Vladimir Putin’s turn to distinct values. Problem of Post-Communism 63 (3): 146–158.
Zvyagelskaya, I. 2016. Russia, the new protagonist in the Middle East. In Putin’s Russia: Really back?, ed. A. Ferrari, 73–91. Milan: Italian Institite for International Political Studies.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dannreuther, R. Understanding Russia’s return to the Middle East. Int Polit 56, 726–742 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-018-0165-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-018-0165-x