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Author : D. Malysheva
Chief research associate, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Science
(Political Science)
ON JULY 26, 2015, President of the Russian Feder-
ation Vladimir Putin on board the frigate Admiral of
the Soviet Navy Gorshkov endorsed a new version of
the Maritime Doctrine of the Russian Federation, the
basic document that specifies Russia's naval and mar-
itime policy. This version added the Mediterranean to
the areas of the national maritime policy (the Atlantic,
Arctic and Pacific zones) and specified that Russia's
naval presence there is aimed at "turning it into the
zone of military-political stability and good-neighborly relations."
THE MEDITERRANEAN was an important terrain of strategic rivalry between the West and
the Soviet Union during the Cold War and remains today an important crossroads of world pol-
itics where cultures, traditions and interests meet, interact, compete, and disagree.
WHEN TALKING ABOUT THE HAZARDS and risks I had in mind the Arab-Israeli, Kurdish
and Iraqi conflicts and the "frozen" conflicts between the Greek and the Turkish parts of Cyprus,
between Turkey and the Greek part of Cyprus, between Turkey and Israel, and the "recent con-
flicts" in Libya and Syria.
These conflicts develop into crises that spread to littoral Mediterranean states and their neighbors
undermine regional security and that of the sea trade routes and make offshore oil and gas ex-
traction too vulnerable to external interference.
Russia's relations with the Mediterranean states have been cleared of the strong ideological bias
of Soviet foreign policy to become pragmatic: Our country wants to preserve historical ties and
contacts with all forces present in the region.
The relationships between the Soviet Union and several Mediterranean and Middle Eastern coun-
tries (Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen) that at certain periods of their history shared
the concept of socialist orientation stemmed from Moscow's support of the ideas of decolo-
nization and its widest involvement in infrastructural projects. Much attention was paid to co-
operation in the military sphere.
In the 2000s, Russia became determined to restore its lost positions, its determination further
confirmed by President Putin's corresponding statements and moves.
In Russia, where followers of different religions live side by side. Muslims constitute the second
biggest religious group after Orthodox Christians. This means that stability inside the country
depends, to a great extent, on the level of direct and indirect contacts between the Russian Mus-
lims and their coreligionists in the Mediterranean countries. A large number of Russian compa-
triots in the Mediterranean countries have created a strong impetus for closer cultural and
Russia in the Mediterranean: Geopolitics and Current Interests