After a short but flashy visit to the Gulf, Russian president Vladimir Putin met with Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow Thursday where the two held “extremely intensive” discussions about the war in Gaza, oil prices and the conflict in Ukraine.
“It is very important for us to exchange views on the situation in the [Middle East] region, especially with regard to the situation in Palestine,” Putin told Raisi, according to the Russian government.
A spokesperson for Putin said the two huddled “for over two hours” and that “above all, the bilateral ties of the extremely multifaceted partnership.”
The US has watched with worry the tightening relationship between Moscow and Tehran. The US military says Iran has provided Russia with hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for use in its invasion of Ukraine. Russia has denied the allegation.
The US has also vocally accused Iran of providing funding and weapons to Hamas in Gaza in the years prior to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and to Houthi rebels in Yemen as well as the armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon. At the meeting with Putin, Raisi reportedly called for an immediate end to Israel’s “genocide and crimes against humanity” in Gaza Strip, saying that it is supported by the US and the West. Putin, too, has previously blamed the West for the ongoing conflict.
Raisi’s visit to Moscow came just a day after Putin returned from a whirlwind visit to the Gulf, where he met with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates amid much pomp.
Those meetings reportedly came together quickly but also lasted for hours, according to the Russian government. In addition to the conflict in Gaza, energy was purportedly a main topic of dicussion. (When Putin met Raisi, the two joked that Putin considered dropping by Tehran while he was in the Middle East but knew Raisi already had his bags packed for Moscow.)
Analysts who spoke to Breaking Defense said beyond whatever was discussed in the meetings, the trip itself was a message.
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a fellow for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute, said that Putin has his own reasons for visiting, “not least in demonstrating that he is far from isolated and that he is welcomed even by states which are, on the face of it, close US partners. While for [UAE leader] Mohammed bin Zayed and [Saudi leader] Mohammed bin Salman they are likely sending a clear message to Washington by receiving Putin at this time.”
“Putin’s high-profile meetings [in the Gulf] is significant both in terms of substance, given the focus on energy policy as well as Gaza, and symbolism, given the deep international divisions over the response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and, since October, the perception felt by many across the Arab world, and much of the Global South, of double standards in the Western, and especially American, response to Israel and Gaza,” said Ulrichsen.
David Des Roches, associate professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Security Studies, agreed, saying that Saudi Arabia, for one, “feels it is being taken for granted and that the US doesn’t treat it as a full defense partner.”
Similarly, analyst Kristian Alexander said Raisi’s visit to Moscow is part of Russia’s “broader strategy to foster global alliances outside the Western sphere, aimed at projecting the failure of US and its allies’ attempts to isolate Russia through sanctions.”
Jonathan Lord, director of the Middle East security program at the Center for a New American Security told Breaking Defense that if Putin’s trip to the Gulf included any discussion about increasing stability, then the Russian leader was “playing the role of firefighter” as well as “arsonist,” considering Russia’s alleged support for Iran’s destabilizing actions in the region.
