... Syria in the context of the strategic interests of Russia, Israel, and the United States; and as the tension has been growing, this need is getting more and more urgent. Before giving any assessment, it is important to trace which new trends in the Middle East policy of the United States and Israel served as the ground for the summit in Jerusalem and how they affect the interests of Russia in the region.
From Obama to Trump: Middle East U-Turns
During the presidency of Obama the US strategic line in the Middle East as a whole did not go beyond ...
... May 21, 2019, Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General, read a lecture to a group of Israeli diplomats and interns from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs visiting Russia on professional training program.
The event was organized by the Embassy of Israel in Moscow. In the lecture, Andrey Kortunov focused on the problems of Russian-the US relations, the dynamics of conflict situations in the Middle East, the prospects for cooperation between Russia and China, as well as the risks of new regional crises and conflicts in the near future.
... yet, the latter part is far from the truth. Russo-Israeli relations had been improving for decades before Netanyahu entered the Israeli political scene.
Primakov’s Mission: Laying the Foundations for Russo-Israeli Relations
Yuri Barmin:
Russia and Israel: The Middle Eastern Vector of Relations
The “founder” of improving Russo-Israeli relations, Yevgeny Primakov, made a point (almost a mission) of maintaining some type of relationship between the two countries. Since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War all the way ...
... 10-15 years diminish even slightly, this will only add to Israel’s problems.
Karsten Riise:
Opportunities for Europe, Syria and Russia with New Approaches
The US
similarly will over the next 10-15 years probably not face better conditions in the Middle East, than we witness today. Israel, the key US ally in the region, though basically maintaining a status-quo, will rather become relatively weakened than strengthened. Saudi Arabia and Egypt are next in close ties to the US in the region: both countries face a very uncertain political ...
... on the Israeli vision of the role and mechanisms of work of the UN and other international structures. The parties also discussed the situation around the Gaza Strip, in the south of Lebanon, and southwest Syria. In addition, representatives of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Russian experts touched upon issues of post-conflict reconstruction and the balance of forces in the Middle East region.
Russian side was represented by Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General, Timur Makhmutov, RIAC Deputy Director of Programs, Ruslan Mamedov, RIAC Program Assistant, and Alexey Khlebnikov, RIAC Expert.
... capitalize on this initial success by broadening the range of participants to the Astana process and expanding the conversation beyond tactical de-escalation and ceasefire mechanisms to a more sustainable political settlement.
Yuri Barmin:
Russia and Israel: The Middle Eastern Vector of Relations
The second stage of Russia’s direct engagement in the region turned out more successful than the first one. However, it also demonstrated a number of limitations. Iran and Turkey turned out to be incapable or unwilling ...
... the Ministry of Defence, the Procurement and Production Administration (abbreviated to MANHAR),
coordinates
weapons production and deliveries to the Israeli Defence Forces, as well as procurement of foreign-made equipment.
Yuri Barmin:
Russia and Israel: The Middle Eastern Vector of Relations
The Israeli Ministry of Defence coordinates all research and development activities related to the country’s defensive capacity. At present, the country’s multisectoral defence industry is focused on developing increasingly ...
...
The degree of Iranian presence in Syria, the impact of the nuclear deal in the context of Israeli-Iranian regional confrontation, the role of the Palestinian-Israeli settlement in Russian-Israeli relations are also discussed in the paper.
Russia and Israel: The Middle Eastern Vector of Relations
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... guarantee for Tel Aviv, the topic hampers the establishment of a nuclear-free zone in the region [
15
]. The possibility of nuclear proliferation is linked to the threats perceived by other Middle Eastern states. It was in response to U.S. dominance in the Middle East and Washington’s invasion of Iraq, as well as to Israel’s refusal to as much as discuss its nuclear capability, that Iran launched its own nuclear program. Saudi Arabia followed suit, arguing that Iran’s nuclear efforts were a threat to the state. Given the deteriorating security situation in the ...
... discussion. The Israeli delegation was headed by David Akov, Deputy Head of the Center for Policy Research. The parties discussed the current state of Russian-Israeli relations and the situation in the Middle East.
A draft of RIAC working papers on the Middle East dimension of Russian-Israeli relations, prepared by Yuri Barmin, was presented at the meeting. The working papers will be published in October 2018.
