Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)
"Mr. Putin's visit to Tehran is an example of the sort of independent foreign policy that the Kremlin favors these days. ... Russia may not be with Iran, but it is not with America and Europe either."As far as Mr. Putin is concerned, Russia has its own interests, which differ from America’s. Russia is worried about Iran becoming a nuclear power: Iran is far nearer Moscow than Washington, and a nuclear power to the south is the last thing Russia wants. Nor does Mr. Putin take lightly Iran’s threat to wipe out Israel. He told a European Jewish Congress in Moscow that Russia and Israel were the two countries most threatened by a nuclear Iran. …
Yet Russia has no wish to alienate Iran, either. Iran has kept out of Russia’s military conflict in Chechnya and has not intervened in either the Caucasus or Central Asia. Russia wants to keep it that way, and also to protect its own commercial interests in Iran. Access the full article>>