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Russo-Iranian Political Relations in the First Decade of the Twenty-First Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Elena Dunaeva
Elena Dunaeva*
Affiliation:
Center of Middle Eastern Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow
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Abstract

In the 1990s, Russia and Iran successfully laid the foundations for interaction and expanded their spheres of cooperation. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, their relations developed unevenly. These fluctuations depended on the combination of global and regional factors, as well as on the internal circumstances in each country. Russia's participation in international sanctions has aroused discontent in Iran. Despite this, the political establishments of both countries continue to demonstrate an interest in developing bilateral relations and to reaffirm their shared geopolitical interests. This paper analyzes foreign policy documents and the latest research by Russian and Iranian scholars. It strives to shed light on the question: “To what extent and in what areas do the interests of Russia and Iran coincide, and what is the foundation for their potential future development?”

Type
Research Article
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 46 , Issue 3: Special Issue: Power Interplay Between Iran and Russia from the Mid-Seventeenth to the Early Twenty-First Century , May 2013 , pp. 443 - 469
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Iranian Studies 2013

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References

1 The following works among the publications of western authors should be mentioned: Parker, J.W., Persian Dreams. Moscow and Tehran Since the Fall of the Shah (Washington, DC, 2009)Google Scholar; Mark N. Katz, Iran and Russia, available from http://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/iran-and-russia (accessed 15 December 2011); Mark N. Katz. “Russian–Iranian Relations: Functional Dysfunction,” Mideast Monitor 4, no. 1 (July-August 2009), http://www.mideastmonitor.org (accessed 15 December 2011); D. Shlapentokh, Russian Elite Image of Iran: From Late Soviet Era to Present, 2009, http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil (accessed 15 December 2011); Robert O. Freedman, Russia, Iran and the Nuclear Question: the Putin Record, http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp544.htm.2.07.2006 (accessed 13 June 2012).

The most recent studies on Russo-Iranian relations in Russia include: Mamedova, N.M., “Rossiia i Iran: tri desiatiletiia ‘ostorozhnogo’ strategicheskogo sotrudnichestva,” in Triedinstvo. Rossiia pered blizkim Vostokom i dalekim Zapadom, ed. Medvedko, L.I. (Moscow, 2011)Google Scholar; Trenin, D. and Malashenko, A., Iran: vzgliad iz Moskvy (Moscow, 2010)Google Scholar; V. Orlov, Iranskii vector v opredelenii vneshnepoliticheskikh prioritetov Rossii, 16–17 November 2010, http://www.pircenter.org/index.php (accessed 14 May 2011); Mamedova, N.M. and Dunaeva, E.V., eds., Politika RF i IRI v regional'nom kontekste (TsA, Kavkaz, Bliznii Vostok) (Moscow, 2011)Google Scholar; Kozlov, V.V., Kulakov, O.V., Naumkin, V.V. and others, “Nuzhen li Rossii Busher 2?,” Iadernyi klub N1(8)(2011): 13–19Google Scholar; Yenseev, V., “West Stereotypes of the Russian Iranian Cooperation in the Nuclear Field,” International Politics 3, no. VI (Summer/Autumn 2010)Google Scholar, http://www.int-politics.com/Articles/No6/West%20Stereotypes%20of%20the%20Russian%20Iranian%20Cooperation%20in%20the.pdf (accessed 8 June 2012).

In Iran various aspects of Iranian–Russian relations have been considered in the following publications: “Baztanzim-e ravabet-e Iran va rusiye zaruri ast,” 26 December 2010, http://www.strategicreview.org/1389/10/05 (accessed 13 June 2012); Karami, J., Ravabet-e jomhuri-ye eslami-ye iran va federasiyun-e rusiye (asr-e novin-e hamkari-ha) (Tehran, 1388/2009)Google Scholar; “Ravabet-e iran va rusiye dar sal-e 2009—chalesh-ha va forsat-ha,” http://www.irna.ir/View/Fullstory/Tools/875086 (accessed 1 March 2010); “Iran va rusiye dar sal-e 1389,” http://www.iraneurasia.ir/fa/pages/print.php?cid=14886 (accessed 13 June 2012); Sanaei, M. and Karami, J., eds., Ravabet-e iran va rusiye (Tehran, 1387/2008).Google Scholar

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4 According to the signed protocol, Russia was required to cease fulfilling military and technological supply contracts to the IRI by the end of 1999 and refrain from signing any new contracts. The United States was required to ensure that no US arms would pass from countries of the Middle and Near East into regions bordering Russia and to increase military and technological cooperation with Russia. The protocol was confidential.

5 See, for details, Sarukhanov, S.N., Iadernyi factor v rossiisko-iranskikh otnosheniiakh (Moscow, 2007), 11–13Google Scholar; Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000, http://www.state.gov/t/isn/c15234.htm (accessed 15 January 2012).

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7 “The Foreign Policy Concept of Russian Federation” (2000), 5, http://www.ipolitics.ru/lnk/240.htm (accessed 2 June 2011).

8 Ibid.

9 “Russian Federation Concept of the World in the Twenty First Century,” http://www.rusiaeurope.mid.ru/concept21.htm (accessed 10 June 2011); Khatami, M., Islam, dialog i grazhdanskoe obshchestvo (Moscow, 2001).Google Scholar

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11 Ibid.

12 “Sovmestnoe zaiavlenie Rossiiskoi Federatsii i Islamskoi respubliki Iran po pravovomu statusu Kaspiiskogo moria,” http://archive.kremlin.ru/text/docs/2001/03/134984.shtml (accessed 13 June 2012); “ Joint Statement,” Moscow, 12 March 2001, http://www.mid.ru/bdomp/dip_vest.nsf/99b2ddc4f717c733c32567370042ee43/691c7890af0e5018c3256a5e002ff391!OpenDocument (accessed 8 June 2012).

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19 Ibid.

20 A. Migranian, “Vneshniaia politika Moskvy: ispytanie Iranom. Posleslovie k vizitu prezidenta Khatami,” Nezavisimaia gazeta, 15 March 2001.

21 Parker, Persian Dreams, 209.

22 Ibid.

23 Quoted by Sarukhanov, Iadernyi factor v rossiisko-iranskikh otnosheniiakh, 88.

24 Sazhin, V., “Iranskii uzel,” Metally Evrazii 5 (2003): 20–23Google Scholar; Kulaii, I., “Ravabet-e iran va rusiye: tadavvom ya taqiir,” in Ravabet-e iran va rusiye, ed. Sanaei, Mehdi and Karami, Jahangir (Tehran, 1387/2008), 211.Google Scholar

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29 Mamedova, N.M., “Iran i SHOS,” in SHOS i Strany Blizhnego i Srednego Vostoka (K 10-letiiu obrazovaniia SHOS), ed. Arunova, M.A. (Moscow, 2011), 44.Google Scholar

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32 According to these documents signed between the Soviet Union and Iran, the Caspian Sea (lake) would be commonly shared and there would be no international borders in the common lake. In practice it was divided into two sectors.

33 “Sovmestnoe zaiavlenie Rossiiskoi Federatsii i Islamskoi respubliki Iran po pravovomu statusu Kaspiiskogo moria,” http://archive.kremlin.ru/text/docs/2001/03/134984.shtml (accessed 13 June 2012).

34 See, for example Kulagina, L.M. and Dunaeva, E.V., Rossiia i Iran: istoriia formirovaniia granits (Moscow, 2008), 125.Google Scholar

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36 Alternative approaches to solving the legal issues were also stated among scientific and political communities of IRI. For more details, see Dunaeva, E.V., “Podhodi IRI k resheniiu problemi pravovogo statusa Kaspiiskogo moria,” in Iran i Islamskie strani, ed. Mamedova, N.M. and Ibrahimi Torkaman, A. (Moscow, 2009), 86–94.Google Scholar

37 CASFOR is a conventional reference to the operative troops of Naval Force of the Caspian states.

38 Mamedova, N.M., ”Vzaimnye interesy Rossii i Irana,” in Rossiia i islamskii mir, ed. Belokrenitskii, V.I., Zaitsev, I.V. and Ul'chenko, N.I. (Moscow, 2010), 36.Google Scholar

39 The agreement on the creation of a “North–South” international transport corridor was signed by representatives of Russia, India and Iran on 12 September 2000.

40 Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea, http://www.caspianenvironment.org/newsite/Convention-FrameworkConventionText.htm (accessed 25 June 2011).

41 “Deklaratsiia Azerbaidzhanskoi Respubliki, Islamskoi Respubliki Iran, Respubliki Kazakhstan, Rosiiskoi Federatsii i Turkmenistana”, in Kulagina and Dunaeva, Rossiia i Iran, 174.

42 Dmitrii Medvedev, Vstupitel'noe slovo na soveshchanii po prikaspiiskomu sotrudnichestvu 17 August 2009, http://www.kremlin.ru/transcripts/5209 (accessed 25 June 2011).

43 Russia is considering possibilities for helping Iran to cooperate with EurAsEC. This organization was founded by several CIS countries to establish a customs union and common economic space. Although Moscow treated the creation of the ECO in 1992 as a countermeasure to its policies in Central Asia, currently Russia sees the opportunity of starting cooperation with the ECO within the framework of international projects.

44 “Sovmestnoe zaiavlenie prezidentov Rossiiskoi Federatsii i Islamskoi Respubliki Iran 15 oktiabria, 2007 g.,” http://www.rusmission.org.4/1/2025 (accessed 13 June 2012).

45 Ibid.

46 Foreign policy concept of Russian Federation approved by D. Medvedev on 12 July 2008, http://www.mid.ru/bdomp/ns-sndoc.nsf/1e5f0de28fe77fdcc32575d900298676/869c9d2b87ad8014c32575d9002b1c38!OpenDocument (accessed 2 June 2011).

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52 Cited by G. Ivashentsov, Director of Second Department for Asia in Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, “Rossiya—Iran, gorizonty partnerstva,” Mezhdunarodnaya Zhizn' 10 (2004): 29.Google Scholar

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54 Ibid.

55 According to the current arrangements, Russian experts are to service the power plant for the first two years, after which it will be operated jointly for five years. For more information see Yenseev, V., “West Stereotypes of the Russian Iranian Cooperation in the Nuclear Field,” International Politics 3, no. VI (Summer/Autumn 2010Google Scholar, http://www.int-politics.com/Articles/No6/West%20Stereotypes%20of%20the%20Russian%20Iranian%20Cooperation%20in%20the.pdf (accessed 8 June 2012).

56 “Novosti VPK i Voenno-tekhnicheskoe sotrudnichestvo (29 sentiabria–5 oktiabria 2001 goda),” http://www.mfit.ru/defensive/obzor/ob05-10-01-4.html (accessed 20 June 2011).

57 V. Orlov, Iranskii vector v opredelenii vneshnepoliticheskikh prioritetov Rossii, 16–17 November 2010, 5, http://www.pircenter.org/index.php (accessed 15 May 2011).

58 This topic is beyond the scope of this article.

59 Evseev, Voenno-politicheskie aspekty, 129.

60 D. Medvedev, Speech at the Meeting with Russian Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives to International Organisations, 13 July 2010, http://www.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/english (accessed 2 June 2011).

61 Foreign Policy Concept of Russian Federation (2008).

62 In late May 2009, the Center for Strategic Studies of the Expediency Discernment Council, with participation of political figures, diplomats and political scholars, held a roundtable entitled “Western Factor and Relations between Iran and Russia.” See E'temad-e melli, 24–27 May 2009.

63 V. Evseev, Iranskii tupik: naidut li v Stambule vykhod?, http://rian.ru/analytics/20110121/324482353.html (accessed 4 February 2011).

64 “Vneshnepoliticheskaia i diplomaticheskaia deiatel'nost' Rossiiskoi Federatsii v 2010 g. Obzor MID Rossii,” 44, http://www.mid.ru (accessed 3 May 2012).

65 “Ukaz “O merah po vypolneniiu rezoliutsii Soveta Bezopasnosti OON N 1929 ot 9 iiunia 2010,” http://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/news/1108324/ (accessed 10 September 2011).

66 “Asibshenasi-ye ravabet-e iran va rusiye dar goftogu-ye aqa-ye doctor bavand ba IRAS, 22 azar 1388,” http://www.iras.ir/fa/pages/print.php?cid=8794 (accessed 9 December 2009).

67 Poll conducted by the site http://www.asriran.com and the Russian Information Agency “Novosti” in the fall of 2009. For details see: “Fasl-e sard dar ravabet-e iran va rusiye,” http://www.aftabnews.ir (accessed 28 January 2010).

68 M. Sanaei, “Didgah-ha-ye moujud dar moured-e ravabet-e iran va rusiye.” Sokhanrani dar neshast-e takhasosi-ye IRAS “Iran va rusiye dar faza-ye novin-e beynolmelali,” http://www.iraneurasia.ir (accessed 27 January 2010).

69 “Asibshenasi-ye ravabet-e iran va rusiye dar goftogu-ye aqa-ye doctor bavand ba iras, 22 azar 1388,” http://www.iras.ir/fa/pages/print.php?cid=8794 (accessed 9 December 2009).

70 “Vneshnepoliticheskaia i diplomaticheskaia deiatel'nost' Rossiiskoi Federatsii v 2010 g. Obzor MID Rossii,” 44, http://www.mid.ru (accessed 3 May 2012).

71 A Survey of Foreign Policy and Diplomatic Activities of the Russian Federation in 2009 and 2010 cites the Iranian vector as a high priority. See the full texts at http://www.mid.ru/ (accessed 25 June 2011).