Strategic Assessment

In mid-February, at the height of the crisis between the U.S. and Iraq, Russian President Boris Yeltsin warned that a decision by Washington to use force against Saddam Hussein might lead to a Third World War. During a later visit to Moscow by Secretary of Defense William Cohen, his Russian counterparts warned that the exercise of a military option against Iraq might seriously damage U.S.-Russian security relations. These statements contrasted sharply with the passive – if not supportive – approach that Russia adopted toward the efforts of the U.S.-led coalition during the 1991 Gulf War. More broadly, these statements reflected a new and very different Russian role in the Middle East.