Change and Continuity in the Russian Mideast Policy: Motivations, Achievements and Challenges

There is a complex of factors that has been the source of shaping Russia‘s principles and behavioral patterns in the Middle East. With regards to Russia’s increasing role in this region and its opportunities and threats, this paper seeks to articulate variables and basic elements of Russia’s foreign policy in the Middle East. Their main question is what are the factors and the motivations of Russian Mideast policy? Their proposition is that changes and developments in Russian Mideast policy is making Russian perceptions of political and economic issues in the “Near Abroad” and the way of creating geopolitical balanced equilibrium in its relationship with the West changed. The authors try to examine these motivations in Russian Mideast policy to show the principal rules and general formation of its Mideast policy. The result is that the kind of its policy making has created specific implication for I.R. of Iran. These principles have changed from idealistic to realist ones. The methodology of this research is descriptive- analytical.