As events in Yemen become increasingly complex, Russia’s policy there looks increasingly simple: support the government, whoever it is, and encourage dialogue among the country’s many factions.
In trying to understand and explain Russia’s foreign policy in the Middle East, many outside observers turn first to Soviet policy. The USSR supported Syria’s longtime dictator Hafez al-Assad, this argument goes, so Russia today supports his son. Soviet Communist leaders backed the Palestine Liberation Organization, so Putin’s Kremlin does too. But while this approach may be subtly misleading in thinking about Syria or the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, it is obviously wrong in Yemen.
