... important of these disagreements.
First. Western states appear to believe that without active European participation and funding, Russia will not be able to rebuild much in Syria because it cannot provide the capital and technologies desperately needed for Syrian projects. Russia doubts that the European Union is willing to allocate significant funding for Syria, given multiple competing needs and priorities in Europe. Moreover, though European funding is highly desirable, Europe is not the only potential funding source for reconstruction. Moscow ...
... Belgium and, for the time being, the United Kingdom) are currently on the UN Security Council, Europe’s stance on nuclear matters is barely audible.
As far as we can tell, the tentative steps taken by Paris and Berlin to open a dialogue with Moscow on Syria have not led to any practical actions. Also, it would seem that the “selective engagement” between Europe and Russia on Libya is equally doomed.
The European Union and Russia have still not got around to coordinating their positions with regard to the Iranian nuclear issue and to relations with Iran as a whole. And while the stances of the two sides on the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ...
...
Iran’s critical role in shaping the security agenda of the Middle East is indisputable. No matter what we discuss — the Syrian settlement, state-building in Iraq, civil war in Yemen or political dynamics in Lebanon —, Iran remains the big elephant ... ... is that Iran is more part of the problem than it is part of the solution. Of course, Iran’s friends and partners, including Russia, argue the opposite. All these disagreements notwithstanding, the broad international consensus is that it is impossible ...
... representatives took part in the event organized by Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Omran Center for Strategic Studies on the Syrian restoration.
On April 24–25, 2019, in Beirut, RIAC representatives took part in the event organized by Konrad Adenauer ... ... the «Euphrates Shield» areas.
Alexander Aksenyonok, RIAC Vice President, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia, presented the Russian view on the challenges of economic recovery in Syria. Some ideas were expressed by Ruslan Mamedov,...
What might be a “second option” for Russia in Syria?
The situation around Russia in Syria is up for debate. No doubt, Russia would like to lead a reconstruction effort in Syria, in harmony with all relevant partners, including the UN, the EU, the USA, China, India, Turkey, Iran, Israel, the Sunni ...
Interconnectedness of Turkey with Europe and USA may be of good utility for Russian global foreign policy
With ongoing debates on Russian-made S-400 deliveries to Turkey, fate of continuing cooperation of Russia, Turkey and Iran in Syria and future of Ankara’s relations with the European Union and NATO, it is high time to make an honest review of Russian-Turkish relations, define weaknesses of bilateral cooperation and try to sketch a framework for a better future. Inspection of historical legacy and nature of current ties may ...
... powers on the Middle East general development dynamics, on the most significant challenges and threats emanating from the region, on possible mechanisms and sequence of solutions to Middle Eastern issues.
This meeting is devoted to the latest events in Syria and Yemen, the possibilities of preventing escalation, and the optimal formats for multilateral dialog in these crisis situations. The Russian side is represented by Alexander Aksenyonok, RIAC Vice-President, Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General, and RIAC experts Irina Zvyagelskaya and Elena Suponina.
No single power can ‘fix’ the current turmoil in the Middle East. Still, there may be scope for Russia–Europe cooperation in managing the region’s ills
When future historians write about the early 21
st
century, they ... ... in the region, allowing them to continue long after the resources of the warring parties would otherwise have been depleted (Syria is a case study of this). Whatever the temptations of seeing the Middle East as an arena through which to score points against ...
It is becoming increasingly more difficult for Moscow to retain its position as an honest, if not completely independent, broker
On February 14, the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran will meet in Sochi to discuss Syria and hold separate bilateral meetings. Recently, new developments have emerged that could prove dangerous if each state pursues its own hidden agenda. The three states depend on the Astana format for settling the Syrian issue.
By 2019, the Syrian ...
The main Russian event of 2018 was President Vladimir Putin’s re-election for another six-year term. In view of the nature of the Putin ... ... and expensive aerospace and naval weapons programs have effectively been pushed back to the mid-2020s or even beyond 2027.
In Syria, Putin will keep trying to convert the military success of the Russian intervention into political and diplomatic gains,...
