• Research
  • Emissary
  • About
  • Experts
Carnegie Global logoCarnegie lettermark logo
DemocracyIran
  • Donate
{
  "authors": [
    "Martha Brill Olcott"
  ],
  "type": "legacyinthemedia",
  "centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
  "centers": [
    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
    "Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center"
  ],
  "collections": [],
  "englishNewsletterAll": "ctw",
  "nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
  "primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
  "programAffiliation": "russia",
  "programs": [
    "Russia and Eurasia"
  ],
  "projects": [],
  "regions": [
    "Middle East",
    "Iran",
    "Syria",
    "Russia",
    "Eastern Europe",
    "Ukraine",
    "Levant"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Political Reform",
    "Security",
    "Foreign Policy"
  ]
}

Source: Getty

In The Media

Ukraine’s Effect on a Deal for Syria: Iran Could Become More of a Player

Putin’s annexation of Crimea may be a victory at home, but it will harm Russia’s interests in the Middle East. If Iran could get sanctions removed, it might benefit from selling gas and oil to Europe.

Link Copied
By Martha Brill Olcott
Published on Mar 18, 2014
Program mobile hero image

Program

Russia and Eurasia

The Russia and Eurasia Program continues Carnegie’s long tradition of independent research on major political, societal, and security trends in and U.S. policy toward a region that has been upended by Russia’s war against Ukraine.  Leaders regularly turn to our work for clear-eyed, relevant analyses on the region to inform their policy decisions.

Learn More

Source: New York Times

Vladimir Putin’s rhetorically rich invocation of faith, language and history may endear him to the vast majority of his countrymen, but it won’t buy him the international support he needs to defend Russia’s broader interests, including those in the Middle East.

Putin has had limited international support for his policy in Ukraine. China abstained in the United Nations Security council, where 13 countries voted to endorse the territorial integrity of Ukraine, among them Jordan.

Jordan’s own domestic stability has been put at risk by the presence of some half million refugees from Syria, where Assad’s continued survival must be counted as another of Putin’s policy triumphs.

Not surprisingly, Assad has been the most vocal supporter of Russia’s policies in Ukraine. The Syrian president's political survival is critical if Putin wishes to retain any foothold in the Middle East, a region where Moscow’s influence -- so critical during the “hot years” of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the 1960s and 1970s -- was diminished by the Middle East peace process.

Russia’s future influence in Syria, may depend on Iran, Assad’s other major ally. Lakdar Brahimi, the United Nations special envoy on Syria, visited Tehran to discuss the crisis on March 17. The meeting came just a day after Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, together with Vladimir Makei, Belarus's foreign minister, called for dialogue and international law to prevail in Ukraine.

Iran could benefit from a boycott against Russia; it has the gas and oil to meet the energy needs of Moscow’s current customers, if only they could get the international sanctions against them removed. It remains to be seen if Tehran’s new rulers are pragmatic enough to figure out how to use the situation in Syria to help them do this, and if the U.S. will allow them this role.

This article was originally published in the New York Times.

About the Author

Martha Brill Olcott

Former Senior Associate, Russia and Eurasia Program and, Co-director, al-Farabi Carnegie Program on Central Asia

Olcott is professor emerita at Colgate University, having taught political science there from 1974 to 2002. Prior to her work at the endowment, Olcott served as a special consultant to former secretary of state Lawrence Eagleburger.

    Recent Work

  • In The Media
    After Crimea: Will Kazakhstan be Next in Putin’s Reintegration Project?

      Martha Brill Olcott

  • Article
    China’s Unmatched Influence in Central Asia

      Martha Brill Olcott

Martha Brill Olcott
Former Senior Associate, Russia and Eurasia Program and, Co-director, al-Farabi Carnegie Program on Central Asia
Martha Brill Olcott
Political ReformSecurityForeign PolicyMiddle EastIranSyriaRussiaEastern EuropeUkraineLevant

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

More Work from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

  • Commentary
    Carnegie Politika
    Control Above Reform: What’s Behind Ukraine’s Government and Security Reshuffle?

    Ultimately, Zelensky sided neither with the reform camp nor with the military establishment as such, but with political control.

      Balázs Jarábik

  • Trump and MBS walking through a doorway
    Commentary
    Emissary
    What We Know About the U.S.-Saudi Nuclear Deal

    Despite the agreement’s uncertainty, it’s still a significant development in regional and nuclear policy.

      • Andrew Leber
      • Jane Darby Menton

      Andrew Leber, Jane Darby Menton

  • Trump and Xi standing next to each other
    Commentary
    Emissary
    A Path Forward on AI Safety for the United States and China

    “AI safety in parallel” is modest and pragmatic but vital.

      Matt Sheehan

  • Commentary
    Strategic Europe
    Why Europe Must Take Charge of its Russia Diplomacy Now

    Trump is distracted and Ukraine wants Europe to step up. The continent’s leaders must find their voice and assert it in talks with Russia.

      Alissa de Carbonnel

  • Supporters of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party wave German flags at a campaign rally in front of the Berlin City Hall on June 29, 2026.
    Paper
    The Alternative für Deutschland and Germany’s Unsettled Place in the World

    Unresolved tensions within the AfD may ultimately constrain the its potential as a leader among European and global populist forces.

      Jeremy Cliffe

Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Carnegie global logo, stacked
1779 Massachusetts Avenue NWWashington, DC, 20036-2103Phone: 202 483 7600
  • Research
  • Emissary
  • About
  • Experts
  • Donate
  • Programs
  • Events
  • Blogs
  • Podcasts
  • Contact
  • Annual Reports
  • Careers
  • Privacy
  • For Media
  • Government Resources
Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
© 2026 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. All rights reserved.