IRAN AND ISRAEL IN THE FOREIGN POLICY OF RUSSIA: RESTRICTIONS ON THE WAY OF COOPERATION

Active involvement in Middle East affairs has become one of the key trends of the Russian foreign policy in the current decade. Given the highly competitive nature of engagement context of the Middle East, Russia has to constantly look for a balance in relations with the rivaling countries of the region. Iran and Israel are those states with relations fi t well into the Cold War picture. Despite this fact, Russia manages to maintain a fairly high level of relations with both states. However, such maneuvering has its limits. The purpose of the article is to explore the main determinants of the importance of Iran and Israel in Russian foreign policy and key constraints of cooperation of Russia with those states at the present stage. The article uses the ideas of (neo) realism and (neo) liberalism. Methodologically, the study relies on a comparative method and the systems approach that makes it easier to establish correlations between external and internal foreign policy elements when refl ecting on their impact on a state’s foreign policy. The main results of the study include the following. Firstly, it has been established that Iran’s place in contemporary Russian foreign policy is determined primarily by situational factors, while Israel’s similar position is determined also by longer-term determinants based on historical, religious, ethnic, political and economic foundations. In the case of Israel, situational geopolitical and economic determinants are complemented by a relatively long-term human factor ‒ resources and capabilities of the Russian-speaking Jewish diaspora. Secondly, it is shown that, despite the high level of Russia's cooperation with Iran and Israel at the present stage, there are a number of factors that limit the formation of strategic cooperation between them. The key constraints in this context in RussianIranian relations are еру problem of unresolved legal status of the Caspian Sea, Russia's “all-azimuth” strategy in the Middle East, Moscow’s concerns about Iran’s growing regional infl uence and its ability to diversify energy supply routes from Central Asia to Europe and the last but not least is the negative impact of rapprochement with Iran on relations with Western states. The key factors hindering the strategic nature of RussianIsraeli relations include not only the allied nature of Israel’s relations with the United States, but also Russia’s position on a Middle East settlement, Moscow’s expanding engagement with the Palestinian National Administration and relations with Iranian backed – labeled terrorist by Tel-Aviv – military groups in the region. And thirdly, based on an analysis of a combination of factors, it is concluded that Russia’s relations with Iran and Israel cannot be strategic, since some determinants of the signifi cance of these states in modern Russian foreign policy at the same time appear to be constraints towards a closer cooperation within this triangle