Experts on Moscow's activities in the Middle East

The 20th International Oil Congress is taking place in the capital of Qatar. Russian companies Gazprom, Rosneft, LUCKOIL, Tatneft, TNK-VR, Bashneft and Surgutneftegaz are presented at the exhibition of the forum. “74 years were needed for the major oil congress reached the richest oil and gas region – the Middle East,” the minister of energy and industry of Qatar said at the opening ceremony. At the same time, not only the oil congress reached the oil and gas region, but also many negative processes.

According to the Director General of the Contemporary Iranian Studies Center, Ridjab Sapharov, Russia has missed many important events in the Middle East in 2011, which caused a significant reduction of its influence in the region. “All the countries in the world are surprised by the passiveness of Russia,” the expert said, and noted that absence of a clear position on Libya is a serious omission and it damages its interests. Sapharov expressed hope that in Syria, Russia won’t repeat its mistake. He also noted that even though Russia didn’t finance the missile defense system of Syria and Iran, three Russian ships are situated close to Syrian coasts, and “it means Russia is ready to defend Syria if it is needed.”

“The League of the Arab States is an obedient instrument in Western hands. Only this fact can explain unreasonable sanctions launched against its own country, Syria. The sanctions are outrage of the Charter of the organization and interference to internal affairs of Syria,” Sapharov believes. “All these measures are favorable for West, which wants to eliminate the regime, which friendly to Iran, from the Middle East map. America and West got used to cope with their problems in the region by the Arab League. Statements by Russian leaders are misunderstood by the Arab mass media, as they are controlled by London and Washington. The current regime in Iran is not suitable for a new format imposed on the Middle East by West,” Sapharov said.

The leading researcher of the RAS Eastern Studies Institute, Vladimir Sazhin, thinks that the current developments in the Middle East are not connected with the Islamic Revolution of 1979: “It is substitution of notions. Reasons, which caused the Iranian Revolution and Arab Spring, are absolutely different. Iran tries to approach these phenomena from ideological point of view. In fact, more and more leaders of the Arab countries stand against Iranian form of regime. Turkish model is closer to them. And so, Iran has only one ally in the region, Syria. That is why the ideological influence of Iran is great in Syria.”

The director of the Social and Political Research Centre, Vladimir Yevseyev said that potential of Russia in the region is limited. It has done everything it could: has helped Iran in construction of the Busher APS, is trying to prevent invasion of the coalition to Syria by sending three ships to Tartus. Retaliatory deterrent is not missile defense systems on them, but their presence itself. “However, Moscow cannot interfere with internal affairs of Syria. Russia tries to provide comfortable conditions for Syria for it can settle its own problems,” Yevseyev emphasized.