A growing concern for both the West and Israel, however, is Russia’s evolving arms sales relationship with rogue governments located in places like Tehran and Damascus.
In a study released last month entitled “The Russian Arms Exports and Arms Exports to the Middle East,” the Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies, part of Tel Aviv University, noted, “Since 2002, Russian arms sales to Algeria, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria have risen sharply.” According to the report’s author Paul Rivlin, Iran has been one of Moscow’s best customers, ordering $3.7 billion of Russian arms over the past several years.
Russia’s growing relationship with Iran continues to be clouded with uncertainty. Earlier this month, Moscow announced it would sell several dozen surface-to-air missiles to Iran for $700 million to protect the country’s controversial nuclear sites located in Isfahan and Bushehr. Almost immediately, Washington and Tel Aviv voiced concern over the sale, given that the missiles could be used against attacking U.S. or Israeli fighter jets in raids on suspected nuclear sites. In addition, a $132 million contract signed with Iran in 2005 for the design and launch of the country’s Zohreh “communications” satellite has provided further evidence of a rapidly maturing bilateral relationship.
This month, a military delegation led by Russian Chief of Staff General Yuri Baluyevsky toured military installations within Syria, desperately exploring ways to increase bilateral defense cooperation. The Russian visit comes only months after the announcement of a controversial $20 million agreement signed by the two countries that would provide the SA-18 short-range anti-aircraft system to the regime of President Bashar Assad.
Russia’s bilateral defense relations with Damascus have irked Israeli government officials who have charged Moscow with supplying weapons that have been used by Syrian-backed terrorists located in Lebanon against Israel. “The true face of the Russians and Syrians has been exposed,” said Aharon Farkash, head of the Israeli military intelligence.
Even a beleaguered Baghdad has reached out to Moscow for military assistance. In an interview with Saudi daily al-Hayat in January, Iraqi Army Chief of Staff Baker Zibari declared that his country would enter into purchase deals with Russian arms factories to provide armored personnel carriers and helicopters.
Defense cooperation involving Moscow and countries on Israel’s borders has also grown recently. Last April, Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency director Alexander Rumyantsev visited Egypt where he offered to upgrade Cairo’s dormant nuclear program and provide technical expertise to foster greater defense and space cooperation. Russian foreign policy advisor Sergei Prikhodko later stated that Moscow would actively seek to “renew supplies of military equipment and spare parts to the Egyptian military.”
Even more disquieting for Tel Aviv, Moscow’s relationship with the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority (PA) grew closer last year with Putin showing an interest in providing the PA with Mi-17 helicopters, armored troop carriers and communications equipment.
Russia’s Middle East arms sales come at a time when it is planning a military restructuring of its own military. Russian defense firms have received over $8 billion in new orders from the Russian military in 2006, as part of a new state arms program slated for 2006-2015. Alexander Burutin, a senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, noted in January, “Its no secret now, a new state arms program is being drawn up to modernize the Russian armed forces.” Adding to existing concerns over Russia’s re-militarization, was Putin’s strangely timed announcement in late January that Russia had developed a new generation of hypersonic, maneuverable missiles capable of penetrating any known missile defense shield.
Should the world be concerned about Russian arms sales to authoritarian governments in the Middle East and a simultaneous modernization of its own armed forces? Of course, especially after witnessing Putin’s recent attempts to consolidate power at home and his use of the country’s energy resources as a geostrategic tool of influence and oppression. <!--page-->
As Russia emerges from it’s nearly two decade slumber as a global player, arms sales will be viewed by Moscow as an important way to propel the country forward. But Moscow is ignoring the changing geopolitical landscape which lies ahead, carrying out a Middle East arms policy that could threaten global security by empowering rogue states such as Syria and Iran. The pursuit of this strategy may also ultimately harm Russia itself, by placing arms in the hands of future adversaries or anti-Russia terrorists.
Why is Putin determined to rearm hostile Middle East countries at a time of intense confrontation with Iran? Is Putin truly the “most faithful defender of the Islamic world,” as he boasted to a surprised Chechnyan audience in December, or is he merely a blind opportunist looking to fill his country’s coffers with Middle East bounty? Can Putin be trusted as a joint custodian of Middle East peace and security? At the present time, questions, not answers, may be Putin’s most troubling export.
Fred Stakelbeck is a foreign affairs expert. He can be reached at Frederick.Stakelbeck@verizon.net.
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