Russian Middle East Policy

Following the Cold War, Russia gripped with tremendous economic and political problems, under these circumstances, the U.S. could easily expand its influence in the Middle East. During this period, Russia which involved in its economic reconstruction, adopted a foreign policy towards the region which was in line with the U.S. policies. This paved the way for Washington to further its goals in the region more easily. Although since the mid-1990s, Russia realized that preserving its influence in the "near abroad" depended on expanding ties with the countries such as Iran and Turkey, we did not observe any major confrontation between Moscow and Washington at that time. When Putin came to power, relations between the two countries were ameliorating, but the U.S. attack on Iraq faced this trend with some challenges, so that Russians realized that their domestic and regional security and power could be better safeguarded by adopting an independent stance vis-à-vis the U.S. For this reason, since than, the international system has witnessed independent and sometimes confrontational approaches taken by Kremlin regarding the White House policies towards the regions such as the Middle East.