Start Date:

Spring 2007

End Date:

Autumn 2008

Funding Organization:

Gulf Research Center

Description:

Russian and CIS Relations with the Gulf Region: Current Trends in Political and Economic Dynamics – a volume edited by Dr. Marat Terterov – has as its overarching theme the relations between both Russia and the Gulf States on the one hand, and the ex- Soviet and Gulf regions on the other.

The Soviet Union exercised an energetic foreign policy towards the Arabian Gulf and the broader Middle East during the late-Cold War Period. Following the dismantling of the Soviet state, Moscow’s influence in the region rapidly declined although the Gulf retained a high level of strategic significance for the Kremlin’s foreign policy makers. In recent years, a number of pivotal factors, including international terrorism and Islamic militancy, Russia’s vast expansion in the export of its primary energy commodities to global markets, the international arms trade and nuclear non-proliferation, are all compelling Moscow to commit greater foreign policy resources into engagement with the Gulf region.

As bilateral ties between these regions grow, numerous questions arise among scholars, government policy-makers and the international business community about the scope and nature of such new-found relations.