The Soviet Union in the Middle East: Great Power in Search of a Leading Role

Abstract

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan has been interpreted by many Western commentators as the first stage in a new era of Russian activism in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. The Russians, it is argued, have sought ever since Tsarist times to secure warm water ports in this region not only for trading purposes but also in order to solve the perennial problems caused by trying to support and supply widely dispersed fleet areas. The naval disasters of the Russo-Japanese war in 1904–5 are used to illustrate the long-standing strategic importance to the Russians of the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal. While it is not entirely without justification that some analysts continue to explain Moscow’s policy in the Middle East largely in terms of these strategic interests, nevertheless to focus exclusively on Russia’s geo-strategic requirements would only produce a myopic distortion of the intricate web of interactions and influences which serve to delimit Soviet power and determine Soviet policy.