Putin to Visit Iran on 19th... Countering Biden's Middle East Tour

Summit Meeting of Russia, Iran, and Turkey
Likely to Discuss Middle East Issues Including Syrian Civil War

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The Russian government announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Iran to hold a trilateral summit with Iran and Turkiye. This move is interpreted as a countermeasure immediately following U.S. President Joe Biden's Middle East tour. The three countries are expected to showcase their close ties amid Western sanctions on Russia and discuss Middle East issues such as the Syrian civil war.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 17th (local time), President Putin plans to visit Tehran, the capital of Iran, on the 19th to hold a summit with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Turkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish presidential office also announced in a statement that President Erdogan will visit Iran from the 18th to the 19th and hold a trilateral summit.

This will be President Putin's second overseas trip since the invasion of Ukraine. Previously, at the end of last month, Putin visited Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, to attend the Caspian Sea littoral states summit.

Notably, this trip by President Putin comes immediately after President Biden's first Middle East tour since taking office, and is seen as a move to counter the U.S. Middle East strategy. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) analyzed, "Putin's trip is to signal that the war in Ukraine has not weakened Russia's position on the world stage," and "it reflects the importance of Russia maintaining its influence through military and diplomatic involvement in the Middle East over recent years."

Hanna Notte, a senior researcher at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation in Austria, told WSJ, "Considering the invasion of Ukraine, separation from the West, sanctions, and maintaining influence are becoming increasingly important in Russian foreign policy," adding, "However, Russia realizes that it has no future with the West. That is irreversibly gone. Russia must work with the Global South (Middle East) going forward."

The main core issue of this trilateral summit is expected to be the Syrian civil war. In the early stages of the Syrian civil war that erupted in 2011, the dictator Bashar al-Assad was at a disadvantage, but on September 9, 2015, with Russian support, he regained the upper hand. Turkiye, which shares a border with Syria, has become closer to Russia by deeply involving itself in the civil war under the pretext of combating Kurdish armed forces. Iran, sharing the same sectarian Shia affiliation with the Assad regime, has actively supported it with weapons and troops. Thus, the three countries are deeply involved in the Syrian civil war.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.