Gaza-Israel conflict: Opportunity and risk for Russia's Putin
The conflict between Hamas and Israel is both an opportunity and a risk for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been mired in pressing his invasion of Ukraine for the past 19 months.
Among Putin's objectives that are expected to shape his foreign policy, the following ones can be noticed :
Accomodate Israel
Moscow must manage a careful balancing act in its ties with Israel, especially given the strong personal relations between Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a frequent guest in Russia.
Israel has refrained from sending any weapons to Ukraine following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"The Kremlin has so far succeeded in keeping (Israel) out of the war in Ukraine, and would like this Western country not to be an additional supporter of Ukraine," said Dimitri Minic of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI).
But Putin conspicuously refrained from using the word "terrorist" to describe the Hamas attacks.
Weaken the West
Putin says he wants to shape a new world order together with China as well as Moscow allies in Iran and North Korea.
The Kremlin chief has openly blamed Washington for the turmoil in the Middle East.
Minic of IFRI noted that some countries in the so-called Global South and Russia were united in their "resentment, even hatred and very often an irrational perception of the West. And this relationship with the West has a number of sources which form an inexhaustible breeding ground for Moscow."
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Read the article on RFI.fr
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