Does Russia seek 'ideological alternative' to US with Gulf security concept?
Despite popular claims that Russia's policies in the Middle East are free of any ideology, the recent Gulf security concept released by Moscow may suggest that there should be one.
SOCHI, Russia — In the run-up to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Russia continues to promote its Gulf security concept. On Oct. 2, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the meaning of the initiative. Speaking at the annual session of the Valdai Discussion Club conference in Sochi, Lavrov reminded the audience of international experts and policymakers that Moscow proposed a similar idea in 2004, but the regional states were rather lukewarm about it back then.
"After we’ve seen dangerous escalations during this summer — including in the Strait of Hormuz and condemnation of Iran for pretty much everything that’s happening in the region, be it in Palestine, Lebanon, in Syria or elsewhere — we’ve decided it was time to refresh the concept and draw attention to it,” Lavrov said.
One of the more overlooked aspects of the concept Moscow proposes is that, besides other things, it may serve the ideological basis for Russia’s continued presence in the Middle East. Most importantly, it may, in fact, be the “Russian World concept” for the Islamic world.
A series of recent publications in Turkey, inspired by a group of Russian experts close to Alexander Dugin, argues that a number of Russian think tanks, including those linked to the military and intelligence, were developing a road map for a “Eurasian transformation” process in Moscow’s interests amidst a new geopolitical landscape in the Middle East and the Maghreb. The major argument of the works hinges on the idea that the three factors — the Islamic State’s defeat in Syria and Iraq, the failed Arab Spring and the global crisis of “nihilistic liberalism” — have opened up new opportunities for a stable Middle East and “its transformation into the pillar of a multipolar and just world order” guaranteed by Russia. This, according to the authors of the reports, should replace what came to be seen: the American “Greater Middle East” idea.
