Middle East Update

Russia on Saturday July 14, suspended its participation in a key European arms control treaty that governs deployment of troops on the continent, the Kremlin said, a move that threatened to further aggravate Moscow’s already tense relations with the West.

Russia has informed Iran that it will withhold nuclear fuel for Iran’s nearly completed Bushehr power plant unless Iran suspends its uranium enrichment as demanded by the UN Security Council, the New York Times reports.

In what some analysts have said is a bid to boost its influence in the Middle East, Russia remains solidly in favor of creating a Palestinian unity government - despite the glaring shortcoming of the Mecca Accord - and will work to help lift the Western aid boycott of the PA. Russia is the only [...]

Israeli leveled hard criticism at Russian today March 2, following the former Soviet Union’s decision to supply Syria with advanced anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, expressing their concern that the weapons would be transferred to Hizb’Allah forces in Lebanon. During last year’s war between Israel and the Shi’ite Muslim terror group, large quantities of Russian-made [...]

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said today, February 27, that the former Soviet Union would work to build international support for the unity agreement between the Hamas and Fatah parties in order to end the international aid boycott of the Palestinian Authority.

Russia will start delivering fuel to Iran’s nuclear reactor at Bushehr in three months, according to Sergei Shmatko, head of Russia’s nuclear equipment and services exporter, Atomstroyexport.
The announcement was made in Tehran on Tuesday December 12,, after Shmatko met Iran’s nuclear chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh. Preparations will begin in January for deliveries in March. Six months [...]

Jeremy Sharon, Israel Insider

I shall be an autocrat, that’s my trade

Thus quipped the Empress of Russia, Catherine the Great, who stamped Russian authority onto the international stage, seizing vast swathes of territory and establishing Russia as a formidable power in the middle of the eighteenth century. It appears that Vladimir Putin has taken her example [...]

Yossi emlman, Ha’aretz
This the first time that an Israeli Prime Minister has talked openly about the fact that it is necessary to create conditions that “cause Iran to be afraid that something they do not want to happen to them, will happen to them”. This is the most far reaching threat uttered by an [...]

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Israel would not allow Iran to obtain “unconventional weapons” during their meeting in Moscow on October 18. Ha’aretz reports that Olmert also asked Putin to exert Russian influence and help solve the international standoff surrounding the Iranian nuclear program.

Caroline Glick, The Jerusalem PostThe Russian bear has awakened after 15 years of hibernation. Under the leadership of former KGB commander President Vladimir Putin, Russia is reasserting its traditional hostility towards Israel. Last Tuesday, October 3, Russian military engineers landed in Beirut, the first time that Russian forces have openly deployed in the Middle East. [...]