Russian Foreign Policy Towards the Middle East: New Trends, Old Traditions

This panel aims to discuss the motives behind Moscow’s behavior in the Middle East, considering Russia’s growing role in the region and its desire to protect national interests using a wide array of means. The panel will consider Russian involvement in the Middle East from several points and analyze global geopolitical risks affecting Russia's Middle Eastern strategy and internal drivers determining Moscow’s behavior in the region. Special attention will be paid to the question of Russian foreign policy toward the Middle East being based on the principle of continuity. The panelists will discuss how Moscow’s vision of its priorities in the Middle East differs from that of the Soviet Union and how the drivers of the Russian presence in the region evolved after 1991.