Russia and Iran, the West’s main adversaries, are scheduled to sign a strategic partnership agreement in Moscow on Friday, days before Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president.
It would further deepen the relationship that has blossomed since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Should Western countries be worried? Not according to Russia.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier this week that “this agreement, like the one with North Korea, is not directed at anyone,” referring to a similar agreement Russia signed with North Korea last year. Ta.
However, the treaty included a mutual defense clause, in which both countries promised to assist the other as needed.
It immediately set off alarm bells in Washington, Kiev, Seoul and elsewhere.
Now, about six months later, Ukraine announced that it had captured two North Korean soldiers on the battlefield. This is evidence that Russia claims to be sending thousands of North Korean troops to the front lines.
This suggests that Western countries’ concerns were well-founded.
I predict that a partnership with Iran will raise similar concerns.
“The main organizing principle of Russia’s foreign policy is now the conduct of the war in Ukraine,” Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Center, told Sky News.
“Every country is evaluated through the lens of what this country can bring to the battlefield effort. How can this country help Russia withstand economic pressure? How can the relationship be used by hardliners in the Kremlin to punish the West?”
“Iran fits neatly into that category.”
Vladimir Putin met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang last year. Photo: Associated Press
The United States and Britain have already accused Tehran of providing ballistic missiles and drones to Moscow for use against Ukraine.
Russia and Iran deny the claims.
But defense is an area where the two countries will cooperate more closely as a result of this new partnership, which Gabuyev described as a “symbolic bonus.”
“The real cooperation is in the underwater part of the iceberg, where Russia is buying drones and designing drones, missiles and weapons needed on the battlefield in Ukraine,” he said.
“In return, Iran will receive Russian technological expertise.”
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From September 2024: Blinken says “Russia has received Iranian missiles”
The Kremlin said the timing of the treaty signing was purely coincidental and had nothing to do with Trump’s inauguration.
“Let the conspiracy theorists have fun,” said Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Coincidence or not, the optics are favorable for Russia.
read more:
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The deal is a sharp reminder to the West that the world is changing and, in Moscow’s view, the U.S.-led rules-based world order is crumbling.
Putin frequently speaks of his desire to create a multipolar world free from Western imperialism and American hegemony.
He wants to show that his efforts are working despite Western efforts to isolate Russia.
First North Korea, now Iran – unity through sanctions.
