Russia in the Middle East: The Drive to Enhance Inuence

The evolving Middle East poses a complex set of challenges for all the local and international actors in the region. Russia, whose involvement in the area is both growing an gathering momentum, finds itself having to adjust political solutions to the emerging challenges in order to take advantage of the opportunities to shape a regional order that advances its foreign policy goals. The effects of Russian involvement in the Middle Eastern dynamic were quite prominent in 2013, mostly in the context of the Syrian civil war, and in particular in the efforts to formulate an international agreement to disarm the Bashar al-Assad regime of its chemical weapons. Following the renewed dialogue between Iran and the Western powers, which concluded with the signing of an interim agreement designed to delay Iran’s progress toward the attainment of military nuclear capability – a development perceived by Russia as an Iranian rejection of Russia’s overtures – Russia commenced efforts at rapprochement with Sunni countries in the Middle East, while exploiting their fears of an Iranian-American reconciliation.