Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to use Israel's war against Hamas to escalate what he calls an existential battle with the West to end U.S. dominance in favor of a multilateral system he believes is already taking shape, according to Russian and Western political experts, what he calls an existential battle with the West for a new world order that will end U.S. dominance in favor of a multilateral system that he believes is already taking shape, Reuters reportsand UNN reports.
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"Russia understands that the US and the EU fully supported Israel, but the US and the EU are now the embodiment of evil and cannot be right in any way," former Kremlin adviser Sergei Markov wrote in his blog explaining Putin's need to distance himself.
"Therefore, Russia will not be in the same camp as the US and the EU. Israel's main ally is the United States, Russia's main enemy now. And Hamas' ally is Iran, Russia's ally," he said.
Moscow has been maintaining increasingly close relations with Tehran, which supports Hamas and which Washington accuses of supplying Moscow with drones against Ukraine. Russia's ties with Israel, traditionally close and pragmatic, have suffered, the newspaper points out.
Hannah Notte, a Berlin-based expert on Russian foreign policy, told the Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Center that she believes Moscow has abandoned its previous, more balanced position on the Middle East and has taken "a pretty outspoken pro-Palestinian stance."
"By doing all of this, Russia is very much aware that it is joining supporters in the Middle East and even beyond in the Global South in their views on the Palestinian issue, where the Palestinian cause continues to resonate," she said.
These are precisely the groups that Putin is seeking to win over to his side in his quest for a new world order that would weaken US influence, the newspaper writes.
"The most important way Russia can benefit from this crisis in the Gaza Strip is to score points in the court of world public opinion," Notte said.
russia also sees the crisis as a chance for moscow to try to expand its influence in the middle east by presenting itself as a potential peacemaker with ties to all sides, said Markov, a former kremlin adviser.
Moscow has proposed a regional meeting of foreign ministers and Putin has said that Russia is well positioned to provide assistance.
There are also potential economic benefits, Markov said, as well as the added bonus of diverting Western financial and military resources away from Ukraine.
"russia will benefit from the increase in oil prices that will result from this war," Markov said. - (And) Russia benefits from any conflict that the US and EU have to devote resources to, because it reduces resources" in Ukraine.
Alex Gabuev, director of Russia's Carnegie Eurasia Center, said he believes Moscow has changed its Middle East policy because of the war in Ukraine.
"My explanation is that war is becoming the organizing principle of Russia's foreign policy and (through) ties with Iran, which brings military hardware to the table. Russia's central war effort is more important than, for example, relations with Israel," he said.