Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov put out several statements over the last few days that include claims that Israel is provoking Iran, and suggesting that Hamas and Hezbollah cannot be defeated. The comments were seen positively in Iran, where state media reported on them.
Russia’s selective observations
Lavrov went on to assert that Israel is trying to “solve” the problem of Hamas, Hezbollah and also pro-Iran groups in Iraq and Syria. Russia has not condemned the Hamas October 7 attack and has embraced Hamas over the last year. In addition, Russia and Iran have grown closer.
Instead, Lavorv was quoted as saying “if you respect sovereignty, then the Palestinian state, by decision of the UN Security Council, must be created precisely on the basis of its territorial integrity, within the borders that are written in the decision, and have sovereignty. They [Israel and the West] are now trying to foist some kind of ‘ersatz’ on the Palestinians, ‘something’ like closed enclaves controlled by Israel along the outer perimeter of the border. I am sure that this will not lead to anything good,” Lavrov said.
In addition, he claimed Russia was in contact with Israel about the situation in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.
Support for Hamas
The overall context of these reports is that Iran wants more Russian support. Russia also wants to position itself increasingly in support of not just the Palestinians but also Hamas, in case Hamas comes to power in the future in the Palestinian Authority.
Moscow wants closer ties with Turkey and with Iran it wants to support the Syrian regime. All this dovetails with backing Hezbollah in Lebanon. Russia sees Iran, Turkey and Syria as key components of its multi-polar world strategy against the West designed to undermine the US-led world order that once made the US the sole global superpower.
