NOS News•yesterday, 21:47
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Miral de Bruijne
editor Abroad
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Miral de Bruijne
editor Abroad
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In the Iranian capital Tehran, a meeting will be held tomorrow between Russian President Putin, his Turkish counterpart Erdogan and the host, President Raisi of Iran. It is certain that they will speak about the situation in Syria, where a civil war continues in which all three play a role. But behind closed doors, many more topics are likely to be discussed. The leaders each enter the meeting with their own agenda.
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It is Putin’s first foreign trip outside the borders of the former Soviet Union since the start of the war in Ukraine. The trip follows shortly after President Biden’s visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia last week, with Iran’s nuclear program prominent on the agenda.
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Putin’s interests –
“Putin’s consultations with Iran and Turkey seem to send a message to the West,” said Russia correspondent Iris de Graaf. Putin wants to show that he does not need the West and is seeking cooperation with other allies.
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In recent years, Putin has increasingly focused on relations with China, India and the Middle East. With visits like this he wants to strengthen his ties with non-Western countries. “That is of even greater importance to him now that the western world has written off Russia,” said De Graaf.
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The main topic of discussion in Tehran is the civil war in Syria. As early as 2017, these three countries spoke with representatives of the Syrian government and rebel groups in Astana (Kazakhstan). De Graaf: “That consultation is an achievement that Putin is proud of.”
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Also, Iran is becoming an increasingly important ally for Putin, not only strategically but also economically. Putin, for example, is looking for new trade routes to circumvent Western sanctions. Putin will also want to discuss this with his colleague Raisi. “This visit contributes to the image Putin wants to present: that he is an influential player on the world stage. That is why he sits down with leaders who do not write him off, but respect him.”
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Raisi .’s interests –
It is not surprising that these talks are being held in Iran. It is one of the countries that Russia still supports, says historian and Iran expert Peyman Jafari. “And the war in Syria has brought Russia and Iran closer together.”
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After Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, the motto was: neither the West nor the East, but the Islamic Republic, says Jafari. “Yet you can see relations between Iran and countries like Russia and China getting closer over the past decade. In 2018, President Trump withdrew the US from the nuclear agreement and then imposed heavy sanctions on Iran. In order to survive, the country keeps pulling. more to the east.”
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Roughly speaking, Jafari mentions two interests that will play a role for Iran at Tuesday’s summit. On the one hand, it is about prestige: “Raisi wants a photo opportunity with Putin and Erdogan. He wants to show Iranians and world leaders that his country is not isolated.”
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Second, Iran is about intensifying political and economic cooperation to withstand the pressures of US sanctions. “Iran and Russia have signed a 20-year cooperation agreement and greatly increased their trade between them. Recently, Iran completed their section of the North-South International Transport Corridor, the trade route connecting Russia to India via Iran.”
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Erdogan’s interests –
Turkish President Erdogan will also want to talk about the economy, more specifically about the much desired corridor for Ukrainian grain. “That should be the solution to the global food crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” explains Turkey correspondent Mitra Nazar. “Russia must give guarantees to allow grain ships from Ukraine to pass through. Turkey is important because that country regulates the passage to and from the Black Sea and tries to mediate between Kiev and Moscow.”
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Syria is also an important agenda item for Erdogan. “He has been shouting for weeks that the Turkish army is preparing a new military offensive in northern Syria, where Turkey wants to push Kurdish militias further back,” says Nazar. For such an invasion of Syria, Turkey needs the green light from the Russians, who are providing military support to President Assad’s regime.
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NATO member state Turkey has a special position on the world stage. The country maintains relations with the West and the East both when it comes to the war in Ukraine and the struggle in Syria. “Syria is a geopolitical chessboard,” says Nazar. “On the one hand, Turkey and Russia face each other there and support other groups in the country, on the other hand they also conduct patrols together. But the fact is that in the end Turkey cannot do anything there without Russia allowing it.”
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‘sovereign states’
Before leaving for Tehran, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov was already looking for agreements between Russia and Iran: both countries have to deal with a laundry list of Western sanctions. According to Peskov, that is the price they pay for their sovereignty. An Iranian government official also made no secret of Iranian interests to Reuters news agency. “We need a strong ally and Russia is a superpower.”
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