Abstract:
Since the breakup of the USSR in 1991, there has been significant
change in Moscow's Middle East policy. During much of the Cold War,
Moscow sought to project Soviet influence throughout even the far off Arab
region of the Middle East. In the post-Cold War era, though, Russian foreign
policy has focused on that part of the Middle East closest to the former
USSR-the Northern Tier. This article will examine the major aspects
of post-Cold War Russian foreign policy toward the Middle East in order to
identify Moscow's multiple goals in the region and discuss Moscow's capacIty
for achieving them.
