Russia adopted a new vision for maritime security in July 2022, as it considered the eastern part of the Mediterranean as an important area for ensuring Russia's national interests;
In addition, it plays an important role in ensuring the strategic and territorial security of the Russian Federation.
The website of the Russian Council for International Affairs published a report by writer Ivan Bocharov, in which he said that Russia sees special importance in building a beneficial partnership with the countries of the eastern Mediterranean region, and pointed to the difficult period of transformation in Russian foreign policy resulting from the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and the growing need for understanding the regional policy of the countries of the eastern sea. Mediterranean, and the strategies of external powers in the region.
He stressed that this new situation explains the great importance of the study published by the Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, entitled "The Struggle for the Eastern Mediterranean: Interests and Ambitions."
multiple aspects
Ivan Bocharov explained that this study is not only concerned with the military and political aspects, but also includes the economic and legal aspects of international relations in the eastern Mediterranean, and pays special attention to studying the intersection of interests and priorities of regional powers and actors outside the region.
The author reviewed this study and its findings.
He said that I. D. Zvyagilskaya - head of the team supervising the study and head of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the Primakov Institute - explained in the introduction that energy, security problems and border disputes are the main aspects that formed the basis of regional restructuring in the eastern Mediterranean.
He talked about the connection of the "gas factor" with the desire of the countries of the region to guarantee their economic interests through the demarcation of maritime borders and exclusive marine areas.
Turkey and Greece
Bocharov believes that one of the important advantages of the study is that it details the contradictions that define the military-political system in the region. The third chapter of the study, for example, focused on the crisis between Turkey and Greece, giving special attention to the Cyprus problem.
The study stressed the importance for these countries to maintain dialogue, and suggested some measures to increase mutual trust, including joint search and rescue operations and related exercises, scientific research, as well as environmental monitoring.
The study also talked about the global gas crisis and its impact on the countries of the eastern Mediterranean, indicating that the eastern Mediterranean gas has become an alternative to Russian gas for the Europeans, but the eastern Mediterranean region can hardly play the role of the main guarantor of energy security in the European Union.
She attributed this to the fact that the export potential of the countries of the eastern Mediterranean is still very limited for many reasons, including the insufficiently developed infrastructure.
Palestine, Lebanon and Israel
According to the author Bocharov, the study also focused on what it described as "triple problems between Palestine, Israel and Lebanon," and stated that the instability on the Lebanese and Palestinian tracks due to the Arab-Israeli conflict, Israel's foreign policy, as well as the internal crises in Palestine and Lebanon;
All this limits the opportunities for these countries to exploit the resources of the eastern Mediterranean.
However, Israel's pragmatism and its ability to separate the problems of a political settlement from economic issues could contribute to integrating Lebanon and Palestine into the "interdependence system" in the eastern Mediterranean, as the study's editors put it.
The writer mentioned that the study also focused on Egypt, the Gulf states and Iran.
It indicated that Egypt is trying to build alliances to contain Turkey in the region, and that it is ready to resolutely defend its interests in the eastern Mediterranean and is able to resort to a show of force if necessary.