Commentary
The war in Ukraine is costing Russia its leverage overseas. Across the South Caucasus and Middle East, this presents an opportunity for Europe to pick up the pieces and claim its own sphere of influence.
William Dixon, Maksym Beznosiuk
{
"authors": [],
"type": "pressRelease",
"centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
"centers": [
"Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
],
"collections": [],
"englishNewsletterAll": "ctw",
"nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
"primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
"programAffiliation": "russia",
"programs": [
"Russia and Eurasia"
],
"projects": [],
"regions": [
"Iran",
"Caucasus",
"Russia"
],
"topics": []
}
REQUIRED IMAGE
Press Release
Russia can help curb Iran’s growing nuclear ambitions
Although Iran and Russia have substantial economic and military ties, Moscow is increasingly wary of Tehran’s growing ambitions. In a new report, Dmitri Trenin and Alexey Malashenko offer a view from Moscow and detail how Iran’s desire to develop nuclear weapons and long-range missiles—while refusing to compromise with the international community—threaten Russia.
Published on Oct 26, 2010
WASHINGTON, October 26—Although Iran and Russia have substantial economic and military ties, Moscow is increasingly wary of Tehran’s growing ambitions. In a new report, Dmitri Trenin and Alexey Malashenko offer a view from Moscow and detail how Iran’s desire to develop nuclear weapons and long-range missiles—while refusing to compromise with the international community—threaten Russia.
Key Policy Recommendations:
- Russia should lead. Using its business and security links with Tehran, Moscow can help lead international efforts to dissuade Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
- Appeal to moderates. By working with moderate pragmatists in Tehran, Russia can encourage constructive dialogue with Iran and help spur a compromise with the West on the nuclear issue.
- Avoid a military strike. A military attack against Iran would divide the international community, destabilize the Middle East, and virtually ensure that hardliners turn Iran into a nuclear weapons state.
"Moscow does not have enough sway to directly alter Tehran’s policies and it does not want to be an intermediary between Iran and the United States," the authors write. "But as Iran’s neighbor, economic and military partner, and as a permanent member of the Security Council, Russia can encourage moderate forces in Iran to compromise with the West on the nuclear issue instead of confronting Washington."
NOTES
Click here to read the full report.
Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, has been with the Center since its inception. He retired from the Russian Army in 1993. From 1993–1997, Trenin held posts as a senior research fellow at the NATO Defense College in Rome and a senior research fellow at the Institute of Europe in Moscow.
Alexey Malashenko is a scholar-in-residence and co-chair of the Religion, Society and Security Program at the Carnegie Moscow Center. He is the author and editor of numerous books on Islam, Chechnya and other issues, including The Islamic Alternative and the Islamist Project (Carnegie Moscow Center, 2006), Russia and Islam (Carnegie Moscow Center, 2007), Ramzan Kadyrov: The Chechen Version of Russian Authoritarianism (Carnegie Moscow Center, 2009).
The Carnegie Moscow Center was established in 1993 and accommodates foreign and Russian researchers collaborating with Carnegie’s global network of scholars on a broad range of contemporary policy issues relevant to Russia—military, political, and economic.
Press Contact: Kendra Galante, 202-939-2289, pressoffice@ceip.org
More Work from Carnegie Europe
- Russia’s Imperial Retreat Is Europe’s Strategic Opportunity
- Is the Radical-Right Threat Existential or Overstated?Commentary
Amid increased polarization and the influence of disinformation, radical-right parties are once again gaining traction across Europe. With landmark elections on the horizon in several countries, are the EU’s geostrategic vision and fundamental values under existential threat?
Catherine Fieschi, Cas Mudde
- Europe and the Arab Gulf Must Come TogetherCommentary
The war in Iran proves the United States is now a destabilizing actor for Europe and the Arab Gulf. From protect their economies and energy supplies to safeguarding their territorial integrity, both regions have much to gain from forming a new kind of partnership together.
Rym Momtaz
- Taking the Pulse: Is France’s New Nuclear Doctrine Ambitious Enough?Commentary
French President Emmanuel Macron has unveiled his country’s new nuclear doctrine. Are the changes he has made enough to reassure France’s European partners in the current geopolitical context?
Rym Momtaz, ed.
- The Iran War’s Dangerous Fallout for EuropeCommentary
The drone strike on the British air base in Akrotiri brings Europe’s proximity to the conflict in Iran into sharp relief. In the fog of war, old tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean risk being reignited, and regional stakeholders must avoid escalation.
Marc Pierini
