Russian Foreign Policy Towards the Middle East

The panel discuses the motives behind Moscow’s behavior in the Middle East, considering Russia’s growing role in the region and its desire to protect national interests using a wide array of means. The panel considers Russian involvement in the Middle East from several points and analyze global geopolitical risks affecting Russia’s Middle Eastern strategy and internal drivers determining Moscow’s behavior in the region. Special attention is paid to the question of Russian foreign policy toward the Middle East being based on the principle of continuity. The panelists discuss how Moscow’s vision of its priorities in the Middle East differs from that of the Soviet Union and how the drivers of the Russian presence in the region evolved after 1991.

Moderator: Nikolay Kozhanov (Qatar University)

Panelists: Roy Allison (University of Oxford), Leonid Issaev (HSE University), Mark Katz (George Mason University).