диссертация (1169608), страница 26
Текст из файла (страница 26)
Back in the 1990s,Moscow was faced with an increasing threat from religious radical extremists bothinside the country and in the post-Soviet space. It was first of all in the interests ofRussia to deprive these extremist groups of ideological support from outside, both infinance and in human resources.The lack of political stability in the broader Middle East has created fertileground for the spread of extremist organizations around the world.
As a result, Moscowhas shown its readiness to support any forces capable of making a constructivecontribution to ensuring stability in the region. In the context of general concern overthe spread of radical extremism, Cairo, Damascus, Tehran, the moderately Islamist271Katz M. Russia’s Greater Middle East Policy: Securing Economic Interests, Courting Islam.Russie.Nei.Visions No.
49. IFRI. April 2010.101regimes of Ankara and Gaza, as well as Amman and the Arabian Gulf were among themost eligible partners.The escalation of tension in Syria and Yemen significantly influenced theposition of the Arab countries of the Cooperation Council of the Arab States of theArabian Gulf regarding security at both national and regional levels. As for the Syriancrisis, it underwent several transformations that turned the civil war in Syria into a fullfledged international conflict when the largest foreign players are now fully involved inthe war.Following a wave of protest movements in several countries of the Arab regionin 2011, the states of the Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Arabian Gulfmade considerable efforts to improve relations with Russia.
This strategy was caused,inter alia, by the notion that the US reduced its activity in the region, as a result ofwhich the Gulf countries have sought to expand their strategic partnership with otherleading international actors. For example, Saudi Arabia signed an investment agreementwith Russia, continued cooperation between the two countries in the development ofnuclear infrastructure272, an agreement was reached to reduce oil production in theOPEC framework.Bahrain supports the aspirations of the Geneva and Astana formats for thesettlement of the conflict through the political process. Its involvement in the Syriancase is limited to providing funding for the construction of refugee camps andhumanitarian support for the population of Syria273.At the same time, due to the geographical proximity of Bahrain to the borders ofSyria and Iraq, the problem of ensuring security is included in the list of priority tasksfor the authorities in Manama, and in recent years Bahrain has demonstrated an obviousdesire to increase military cooperation with Russia.
So, in May 2015, anintergovernmental agreement was signed on military-technical cooperation betweenRussia and Bahrain.272Saudi Arabia to Invest up to $10 Billion in Russia [Electronic resource] // The Wall Street Journal. – URL:https://www.wsj.com/articles/saudi-arabia-to-invest-up-to-10-billion-in-russia-1436198674?alg=y273Aliboni R. The International Dimension of the Arab Spring // The International Spectator: Italian Journal ofInternational Affairs. 2011. Vol.
46, No. 4. P. 5–9.102In December 2015, Moscow hosted talks between the Russian Minister ofForeign Affairs and the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain. One of the issueson the agenda was the settlement of the Syrian crisis and the fight against terrorism.Shiekh Khaled bin Ahmed officially notified the Russian Foreign Ministry in the personof Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about the program of real actions of the coalition ofIslamic states formed at that time against terrorism on the initiative of Saudi Arabia 274.The issue of the program of action of the Islamic Coalition against Terrorism wasincluded in the agenda of Russian-Bahraini talks, because of Russia's own articulatedsecurity concept for the Arabian Gulf sub-region, which first introduced in the early1990s.
The proposals were based on the peaceful existence of Arabian Gulf countries inthe conduct of mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation, taking into accountthe strategic importance of the Arabian Gulf region in geopolitics and the worldeconomy.Promoting this initiative, Russia sought to understand to what extent atrustworthy dialogue between the Arab countries of the Gulf and Iran was possible.
Atthe same time, permanent members of the UN Security Council, the League of ArabStates and the European Union were invited to support the formation andimplementation of the Russian concept of security in the Arabian Gulf region. TheRussian initiative was in particular supported by the Kingdom of Bahrain, but it wasnever realized due to the existing disagreements between Saudi Arabia and Iran, as wellas the reluctance of the United States to see Russia's active presence in the traditionalarea of American interests.The 2015 negotiations in Moscow confirmed the existing in both countries ofthe view that the past years demonstrated the need for systematic Russian-Bahrainicooperation. The main reasons were, on the one hand, the aggravation of the threat ofterrorism as a common challenge for the Arab states of the Arabian Gulf as well as forRussia and other countries in the world.274الف روف مع صحاف ي مؤت مر ف ي... رج يةال خا وزي ر: [ ال رو س ية ال غاز شرك ة مع ل ل ت عاون ت تط لع ال بحري نAt a pressconference with Foreign Minister Lavrov: Bahrain seeks to cooperate with a Russian gas company] [Electronic resource] //Al-Wasat.
– URL: http://www.alwasatnews.com/news/1057694.html103Immediate steps towards rapprochement between Russia and Bahrain in the fieldof security were made in September 2016 during the visit of King Hamad bin Isa alKhalif to Moscow. This was the second bilateral meeting at such a high level during onecalendar year: previously the leaders of the two countries met in Sochi in February 2016and agreed to increase cooperation in energy, trade, investment and financial spheres.The King of Bahrain arrived at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin todiscuss specific tasks to build a coordinated foreign policy on “tensions” in the MiddleEast in the framework of bilateral cooperation, as well as the security situation in theregion275.During the visit to Moscow, the King of Bahrain also visited the internationalmilitary technical forum "Army-2016".
The participation of Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalif inthis exhibition is notable for the fact that the King paid special attention to Russianmilitary equipment, because, according to the leader's statement, that Bahrain isinterested in upgrading its own air defense systems. In particular, the king gotacquainted with the Russian anti-aircraft missile systems S-300 and S-400.
This interestis especially relevant in the light of the plans of the member countries of the Council ofCooperation of the Arab States of the Arabian Gulf to reorganize the missile defensesystem, which are regularly discussed at multilateral meetings. The fast-growing marketof the Arabian Gulf is clearly opening itself up to successful Russian enterprisesoperating in international markets276. In recent years, Bahrain has demonstrated a cleardesire to increase military cooperation with Russia.
As early as 2014 it became knownthat the Kingdom was the first customer of Russian anti-tank complexes "Cornet-EM."In January 2016, the King of Bahrain Hamad ibn Isa al-Khalifa, during the BahrainInternational Airshow-2016 air show, visited the hangars of Sukhoi, Rosoboronexportand the Russian Helicopters holding, where he showed interest in the newest Russian T50 fighter and to the Russian helicopters presented at the air show.275ب وت ين: [ األو سط ال شرق ف ي ل رو س يا مهما شري كا ت ع ت بر ب حري نالPutin: Bahrain is an important partner ofRussiaintheMiddleEast][Electronicresource]//Sputnik.–URL:https://arabic.sputniknews.com/russia/201602081017391960/276Экономическое и военно-техническое сотрудничество России и Бахрейна [Электронный ресурс] //РИА Новости.
– URL: https://ria.ru/spravka/20160208/1370305032.html104However, the main topic of the talks was the issue of the security situation in theMiddle East and North Africa, especially in the context of the fight against internationalterrorism. During the visit of the Bahraini King to Moscow, many Arab experts, inparticular the director of the Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies ofBahrain expressed the opinion that the meeting between Vladimir Putin and the King ofBahrain marked a new step on the part of the Russian leadership in relations with theArab states of the Arabian Gulf277.Boris Dolgov, a researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the RussianAcademy of Sciences, spoke about the positive prospects of the Russian-Bahrainimilitary dialogue, as well as the strategic importance of cooperation with the Arab gulfcountries for Russia.
The expert noted that “although Bahrain is a member of theCouncil of Cooperation of the Arab States of the Arabian Gulf and in one way oranother is influenced by Saudi Arabia, the kingdom plays an independent role in theregion both in terms of economic strategy and in political relations with other states”278.However, the strong connection of Bahrain with GCC, whose main goal isassuring security in the Gulf region, and with Saudi Arabia implies the undoubtedpriority of Bahrain's agreements with other Arabian Gulf countries over cooperationwith the Russian Federation.
![](https://s.studizba.com/z.php?f=/templates/si/i/noavatar.png&w=100&h=100&t=1"){kind=avatar}
