U.S.–Russia Middle East Dialogue Group Meeting

On January 14, 2021, a regular meeting of the U.S.–Russia Middle East Dialogue Group was held online. The event was organized by Washington Middle East Institute in partnership with Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at the U.S. Department of Defense.

On January 14, 2021, a regular meeting of the U.S.–Russia Middle East Dialogue Group was held online. The event was organized by Washington Middle East Institute in partnership with Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at the U.S. Department of Defense.

Dialogue meetings are held regularly twice a year from July 2016. The aim of the U.S.-Russia Middle East Dialogue group is to exchange unofficial opinions on the situation in Syria, discuss the possibilities of reducing the intensity of hostilities and options for a political settlement, analyze the prospects for Russia-the U.S. cooperation in and around Syria, and elaborate specific proposals on Syrian issues for the administration offices of Russia and the U.S.. In addition, a broader range of issues related to conflict situations in the regions of the Middle East and North Africa are being discussed. The dialogue group brings together a core group of American and Russian experts in the regional studies, who represent different research centers of the two countries.

The participants of the meeting on the Russian side included: Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General; Irina Zvyagelskaya, RIAC Member, Head of the Center for the Middle East Studies at RAS IMEMO, Professor of the Department of Oriental Studies at MGIMO MFA, Senior Researcher at the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at RAS Institute of Oriental Studies; Nikolai Kozhanov, RIAC Expert, Academy Fellow with the Chatham House Russia and Eurasia Program; Alexander Maryasov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Thailand; and Konstantin von Eggert, journalist.