Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
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Vladimir Putin’s decision to lift a ban on the exports of the S-300 air defense missile system to Iran has caused shockwaves in the West and Israel. However, the Kremlin’s move was quite predictable with a rather clearly discernible logic behind it.
It is still unclear whether Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman’s trip will bring any deep changes in Russian-Israeli relations. However, the fact that Lieberman’s agenda in Moscow included such a wide range of questions shows that, at present, the two countries’ interests intersect at many points.
Israel’s interests in the Caucasus have three principal dimensions: strategically, as a means of encircling Iran; in the mid-term, as a zone of energy supplies; and in a short-term, as a market for selling high tech arms and ammunition.
The list of countries wanting to take advantage of Western sanctions to boost their food exports to Russia has nothing in common but the desire to gain a new market.
Israel will maintain its relations with the United States and the European Union, but it will also continue to develop its relations with Russia.
The 50th Munich Security Conference marked the charting of a course toward Berlin’s more robust engagement in the world, including with military means. At the same time, the conference was overshadowed by the unfolding crisis in Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin’s respectful message on the passing of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon proves that to quite a few Russian supporters of a strong state, Israel is the ideal in terms of the cohesion existing between the state and the nation, the effectiveness of and coordination among the military, intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, and defense of its interests.
The improvement in the U.S.-Iran relations was quite expected after Hassan Rowhani came to power. The main question today is that of mutual confidence and the genuineness of the intentions of the new Iranian president.