Vali Golmohammadi; Armina Arm
Abstract
This article aims to re-think the main arguments on Russian Middle East policy. According to the mainstream views, the West plays a pivotal role in shaping Russia's Middle East policy, and Moscow's presence in the Middle East has largely been interlinked to Russia’s changing relations with the ...
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This article aims to re-think the main arguments on Russian Middle East policy. According to the mainstream views, the West plays a pivotal role in shaping Russia's Middle East policy, and Moscow's presence in the Middle East has largely been interlinked to Russia’s changing relations with the United States. Not having considering the international dynamics and complexities of the changing Middle East geopolitics, these contributions continue to argue that Russian Middle East presence is highly intended to challenge the United States and revive the Soviet’s sphere of influence throughout the region. In contrast, this paper offers a multidimensional and multivariable contribution, emphasizes on the regionalization of politics and security in the Middle East and the growing role of regional actors and emerging dynamics that inevitably lead to different options, interests and concerns which necessitates the engagement of great powers, especially Russia. According to regionalization of great powers engagement, Russia's Middle East policy and its increasing intervention in regional developments are influenced by political, security and economic dynamics within the Middle East that has increasingly become the driving force behind a variety of opportunities and threats such as terrorism, energy, arms sales, and foreign relations with the regional states. For Russia, this strong presence in the Middle East does not necessarily mean a return to the revisionist and hegemonic policy of Soviet engagement in the cold war era.
