From March 8 to 12, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is making a big Middle East, or rather, a flood tour.
He visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE), then moved to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and ends his voyage with a visit to Qatar.
And everywhere he is greeted with great respect and with no less hope: after all, Moscow is ready to offer what the monarchies of the Gulf now really need.
Military and political umbrella.
Economics and the Sputnik-V vaccination of residents of the Gulf countries were among the items on the official agenda.
However, the main topic of the voyage was still politics, or rather, the political prospects of Russia in the Gulf.
Sergei Lavrov flew to the Middle East at a very successful time for Moscow, when relations between the Gulf countries and Washington are going through a serious crisis.
The days of Trump the Blessed, who did not interfere in the internal affairs of the same Saudi Arabia and helped her to contain Iran, are over.
Both new President Joseph Biden and his Secretary of State Anthony Blinken have declared that democratization (read: imposing American values on those who want to live differently) is once again becoming one of the most important goals of US foreign policy.
In addition, the Americans demand that Saudi Arabia end the war in Yemen and urge the Saudi leadership with various kicks, for example, by publishing a report by the intelligence services on the involvement of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashukji or canceling the sale of weapons.
And Riyadh cannot end the war quickly, primarily for political reasons.
Leaving Yemen against the backdrop of the ongoing offensive of the Houthis (hostile to the KSA Yemeni group) in Yemen and their systematic rocket attacks on the territory of Saudi Arabia will in fact be a recognition of the complete defeat of Riyadh and personally Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Therefore, Riyadh needs time and serious tactical successes in Yemen to work out an acceptable form of compromise with the Houthis, and Washington does not give time.
Finally, the American authorities intend to restore the nuclear deal with Tehran, contrary to the interests of the KSA, as Barack Obama did in his time (in whose administration many current American officials served).
Unsurprisingly, the Saudis are, to put it mildly, unhappy with their main allies.
“The new American administration demonstrates disdain for Saudi Arabia and lack of interest in the problems of the region.
We are reconsidering our relations with Washington, ”Arab Weekly quoted a Saudi source who wished to remain anonymous.
And then Sergey Lavrov arrives.
He comes and invites the Gulf countries to think about deepening political relations with Russia.
Not as an alternative to relations with the United States, but rather as a pleasant and useful addition to them.
Yes, they are trying to convince the Arab world that Russia is an ally of Iran and supports the conventional Shiite axis against the Sunni one.
But this is not the case.
Moscow has a close working relationship with Tehran, but only because we are tackling Russian problems together in the form of proliferating terrorists in Syria.
However, the desire of the Iranian authorities to weaken Saudi Arabia or the Emirates as much as possible is not included in the list of Russian interests, so Moscow does not participate in the Iranian-Saudi confrontation.
Instead, Moscow is showing its readiness to develop relations with all countries in the region - naturally, from among those who are ready to respect Russian interests.
And this is the right approach: it allows you to make new partners and keep old ones in good shape (so that they do not forget to invest in good relations with Russia not only nice words, but also real deeds).
It is not surprising that at the meetings of Sergei Lavrov with his Arab colleagues, all the key problems of the Middle East and North Africa were discussed.
The functioning of a compromise government in Libya (which finally began work and gave a chance for Libyan territory to turn into a country again), the prospects for the end of the Syrian civil conflict.
And finally, Moscow is ready to contribute to regional security.
Yes, Russia is not going to impose on the KSA and the United Arab Emirates a position on Iran and the American-planned restoration of the nuclear deal (which will remove sanctions from Tehran and recognize its right to a peaceful atom).
But Russia can guarantee that the withdrawal of Iran from the restrictions will not entail a threat to the stability of the Gulf countries.
That is, to provide them with a military-political umbrella.
No, not instead of the American one, but (again) parallel to it.
After all, the American umbrella has recently begun to leak very strongly, and its owners, as noted above, too often demonstrate their willingness to roll up this umbrella.
It would seem that a parallel umbrella already exists in the face of Turkey.
In recent years, Ankara has strengthened its military-political presence in the Gulf (it is no coincidence that during Sergei Lavrov's visit to Qatar, his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu also arrived there, after which both ministers and their local counterpart not only held talks for three, but also announced willingness to repeat this format regularly).
However, the Turkish umbrella, firstly, is too expensive to maintain.
Secondly, Ankara has a conflict with Riyadh.
It was the Turkish special services that installed surveillance systems at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and then leaked all the audiovisual evidence of the murder of Jamal Khashukji.
That is why Riyadh needs Moscow as a deterrent alternative and as a compensator for the weakening of Saudi-American ties.
The only question is, what will Saudi Arabia be able to offer Russia for this assistance?
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.