Publication

This paper examines Russia’s point of view on the connection between the 2013/14 crisis in Ukraine and the Arab Spring upheavals in the Middle East, as outlined at an international security conference held in May 2014 in Moscow. The authors argue that regardless of the validity of this claim, the West should see it as a message that Russia is considering adopting a more proactive policy in areas outside of the former Soviet Union and that the Middle East could be an area in which it will attempt to confront the power of the US.