© EPA/ GRIGORY SYSOEV / SPUTNIK / KREMLIN POOL The Kremlin was compelled to postpone the assembly with Arab leaders.
Vladimir Putin declared a Russia-Arab World conference in April, intended to showcase Moscow’s continued sway in the Middle East and demonstrate that the Kremlin wasn’t detached. Instead, global attention was centered on Egypt, where a Gaza peace conference, spearheaded by Donald Trump, was in progress, according to Pyotr Sauer, The Guardian’s Russia correspondent.
An invitation to the conference, originally planned for today in Moscow, was accepted by only two heads of state: Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Arab League head Ahmed Aboul Gheit. Analysts are highlighting a truth Moscow is hesitant to recognize: its impact in the Middle East is declining as the war in Ukraine persists.
“Concerning significant developments, influential figures in the area are no longer turning to Moscow,” says Anna Notte, a Berlin-based specialist on Russian foreign affairs.
The article emphasizes that the shifts in the territory were further evidenced by the Egyptian assembly, where numerous leaders concentrated on bolstering ties with Trump, as Washington's irritation grows with Putin's unwillingness to end the war.
It’s pointed out that for almost a decade, the Middle East functioned as the platform for Putin's comeback to international prominence. His military salvaged Bashar al-Assad's regime from collapse; the Syrian intervention restored Moscow’s standing as a power capable of projecting strength well beyond its boundaries. Nevertheless, after 2022, Moscow was compelled to reallocate much of its military, economic, and diplomatic capacity, rendering it unable to support Assad, whose government subsequently weakened.
Despite years of fostering connections with the Palestinian Authority and accommodating Hamas delegations for discussions in Moscow, Russia played no considerable part in the discussions that resulted in the Gaza truce.
Putin stated that he had delayed the Moscow summit to avoid “interfering” with Trump's peace endeavor and applauded his endeavors to conclude the Gaza conflict. Nevertheless, the Russians have demonstrated their unhappiness with their revised position in the region: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that while Russia “wouldn’t refuse to partake in efforts to resolve the Middle East if invited,” the Kremlin wasn’t going to “impose its services.”
“The liberation of Israeli captives and Palestinian detainees is, undoubtedly, positive, but it won’t resolve anything. Until a fully developed Palestinian state is established in line with established UN resolutions, nothing will shift. The war will persist. Everyone grasps this,” said former President Dmitry Medvedev.
Moreover, Russia’s decline in global influence extends beyond the Middle East. For example, nations in Central Asia and the Caucasus that were previously deemed reliable (including Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan) are progressively distancing themselves from Moscow’s influence. For instance, in August, Trump hosted the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan at the White House after negotiating a peace accord between them. Notably, both Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev visited Egypt on Monday, where Russian delegates were absent.
It is mentioned that Putin will have another chance to host Arab leaders. Moscow indicated that the conference will likely be pushed back to November.
“The conference acts to emphasize Russia's message that it isn’t isolated outside the West. It possesses symbolic worth for Moscow, but it doesn’t reinstate Russia's function as a key actor in the region,” says Notte.
As a reminder, the new president of Syria arrived in Moscow today. He declared that he is resuming relations with Russia.
