Context on External Relations
News Iran rebuilds silk route

Iran has embarked on a series of ambitious projects to revive the historic Silk Road, moves aimed at expanding its regional influence and overcoming Western efforts to isolate it.

  • August 4, 2010
Publications The Russian–Iranian Relations after the UNSC  PDF  (144 Kb)

Key Positions 

  • Russia is deceiving the West in its support for the latest round of UNSC sanctions against Iran.

  • Russia continues to expand cooperation with Iran on its nuclear programme and agreements over sophisticated arms deliveries despite its moves to support sanctions.

  • Russia may have an interest in expanding its political and economic cooperation with the West, but the likelihood of strategic cooperation with Iran remains stronger in the medium term.

  • Russian President Medvedev’s announcement in mid-July that “Iran is close to developing nuclear weapons” occurring in parallel to Russia continuing to provide for Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities is a reflection of the pragmatic realism with which the current “diplomatic charades” involving Russia, Iran and the West should be understood.

  • August 4, 2010
Publications Russian Geopolitical Power in the Black and Caspian Seas Region: Implications for Turkey and the World  PDF  (164 Kb)

Exerting influence in the wider Black and Caspian Seas region is becoming a crucial element in Russia’s current geopolitical strategy. Energy and security are two of Moscow’s primary concerns relating to the region. Turkey, the EU, and the United States, as well as international energy companies will have to be aware of the operational instruments which Moscow has been deploying as part of its geopolitical strategy in the region, which include:
1) inserting itself into the domestic political affairs of its post-Soviet neighbors;
2) simultaneously acting as a crisis mediator/peacekeeper and fostering regional tension to provoke further crisis;
3) behaving as the regional “strong man” in the name of protecting Russian minorities;
4) strengthening energy ties with other former-Soviet Republics in the region; and
5) striking bilateral commercial deals with select Western corporate partners and governments. The deployment of such instruments will ensure that Moscow’s approach to regional geopolitics will remain purposefully unpredictable and full of intrigue, and will invariably continue to take other regional actors by surprise. READ MORE

  • August 4, 2010
News IAEA scheduled for Armenia visit

International monitors are expected in Armenia to examine plans to start construction of a nuclear power plant, a state agency said.

  • July 31, 2010
News US, India sign pact on reprocessing of nuclear spent fuel

India and the US have signed an agreement on reprocessing of American nuclear spent fuel by India, marking the final steps in terms of implementation of the landmark civil nuclear deal between the two countries.

  • July 31, 2010
News Moscow wrong to write off Western Ukraine as inevitably anti-Russian

Russian officials are making a costly and two-fold mistake in viewing Ukraine as a country permanently divided between a virulently nationalistic and Russophobic West and a Russian-speaking and pro-Moscow East, according to a senior analyst at the Moscow Institute of CIS Countries

  • July 31, 2010
News British PM appeals for trade with old colony India

British Prime Minister David Cameron wooed Indian business leaders Wednesday in a remarkable pitch aimed at revitalizing his nation's economy with help from the burgeoning Asian power it once ruled.

  • July 29, 2010
News Cyberwar Is Hell

While we obsessed over Russian spies, top diplomats were working to stop a greater espionage problem: the threat of cyberwarfare.

  • July 29, 2010
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