... “special military operation” in Ukraine a year ago, many experts and journalists concluded that this decision would inevitably have a fundamental impact on Russia’s foreign policy all over the world, including the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. For instance, there were widespread expectations that being distracted by the conflict with Ukraine, the Kremlin would not be able to sustain its military presence in Syria at previous levels. There were speculations that the special military ...
... conflict began. Five months into it, the world has undergone global changes. Under the new conditions, Russia’s foreign policy in regions of the country’s strategic interest is changing as much. Among such regions are the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), which are traditionally in the focus of the Kremlin’s attention. Arab countries have taken an intermediate position in responding to Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Some of them supported the UN General Assembly resolution condemning Russia. However,...
From November 29 to December 24, 2021, at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), the XVI Conference of Arabists “I.M. Smilyanskaya Readings” was held
From November 29 to December 24, 2021, at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), the XVI Conference of Arabists “I.M. Smilyanskaya Readings” was held. Within the framework of the meeting, which brought together 128 speakers from nine countries, there were three public lectures...
The MENA remains highly important, alternately fascinating and frustrating but full of promise and opportunity in a changing world
UK–Russia relations have been, at best, complicated over the past decade. This has also been apparent in the Middle East ...
... engagement in Syria in the autumn of 2015 had a significant ‘pedagogical’ dimension—after a spectacular Western failure in Libya and a less than impressive US performance in Iraq, Vladimir Putin clearly intended to teach the West how to ‘fix’ a MENA country. Particularly in the aftermath of the acute crisis in and around Ukraine, it was very important for the Kremlin to demonstrate that in the Eastern Mediterranean Russia could become not a part of the problem, but rather a part of the solution....
Russia risks losing the most out of this portion of its “Ummah Pivot” given growing the Chinese, Turkish and U.S presence
(This is the second and final part of the author’s article series on this topic. The first one can be read
here
, and it is recommended to review it before the present piece).
Russia’s “Ummah Pivot”, or its post-2014 comprehensive engagement with the many Muslim-majority countries along its southern periphery and beyond, comprises one of the most important pillars of its contemporary...
... branded itself as a fighter against the terrorist threat, while reinforcing the image of a stable and predictable partner. Moscow manages to cooperate with almost all parties of conflicts in the Middle East.
In recent years, China's influence in the MENA region has been on the rise. The COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted harm on the economies of many states, while China appears to be emerging victorious. Its position around the world is strengthening, and soon there will be a larger Chinese footprint ...
The Southern vector of Moscow’s balancing act: what awaits it in years to come?
A key component of Russia’s 21st-century grand strategy goal of becoming the supreme balancing force in Eurasia is its “Ummah Pivot” of comprehensive engagement with the Muslim-majority countries to its South, stretching from North Africa to South Asia. This vector of Russian diplomacy is intended to compensate for the recent setbacks in Western Eurasia (Europe) while simultaneously preventing any future disproportionate...
... in northeast Asia or in the post-soviet space. However, there are a number of specific reasons for security uncertainties and the subsequent risks being particularly high in the Gulf.
First, most of the political regimes in the Gulf area, and in the MENA region at large, combine weak institutions with highly centralised personal power, which makes the decision-making process quite dependent on personal perceptions and misperceptions, and also on emotions and improvisations. With a clear deficit of ...
... 2021, as part of the preparation for the annual high-level initiative Mediterranean Dialogues 2021 (MED-2021), the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) held an online expert workshop “The Road Ahead: What is in Store for the MENA Region in 2021 and Beyond?” in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy.
The meeting was attended by the heads of leading expert and analytical centers in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa....
