Russian President Vladimir Putin waited three days before issuing any comment on the Hamas attack on Israel, which was described as a "massacre", and which occurred on the Russian President's 71st birthday.

When he made a comment, he placed responsibility for what happened on the United States and not on Hamas.

At the time, Putin told the Iraqi Prime Minister: “I think many will agree with me that this is a clear example of the failed policy pursued by the United States in the Middle East, which tried to monopolize the settlement process.”

Another six days passed before Putin spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to offer his condolences for the killing of about 1,200 Israelis. Ten days later, Russia said that a Hamas delegation was in Moscow for talks.

Political experts in Russia and the West say that Putin is trying to exploit the Israeli war on Gaza as an opportunity to escalate what he described as an existential battle with the West in order to impose a new world order that would end American hegemony in favor of a multilateral system that he believes is already taking shape.

“Russia realizes that the United States and the European Union fully support Israel, but they now embody evil and cannot be right in any way,” Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser, wrote in his blog, explaining Putin’s position and his need to distinguish himself on the scene.

He added: "Therefore, Russia will not be in the same camp with the United States and the European Union. Israel's main ally is the United States, Russia's main enemy at the present time. Hamas' ally is Iran, Russia's ally."

Russia enjoys increasingly close relations with Iran, which supports Hamas and is accused by the United States of supplying Russia with drones for use in its war in Ukraine, which is locked in a fierce war of attrition with Russia.

Hannah Knott, a Berlin-based Russian foreign policy expert, told the Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Center that she believes Moscow has abandoned its previous, more balanced stance on the Middle East and adopted an “explicit pro-Palestinian stance.”

She said: "Russia is well aware that by doing all this, it is siding with parties and circles throughout the Middle East, and even outside it in the global south, in their views related to the Palestinian issue and where the Palestinian issue continues to be strongly present."

These are precisely the parties and circles that Putin seeks to win in his quest to form a new world order that would weaken the influence of the United States.

Knott added: “The most important way Russia will benefit from the Gaza crisis is to score points in the court of world public opinion.”

Putin said, "When you look at the suffering and blood-stained children (in Gaza), you clench your fists tightly (out of anger) and tears flow from your eyes."

"Double standards"

Russian politicians have compared what they say is the absolute authorization that Washington granted to Israel to bomb the Gaza Strip, and Washington's punitive response to the war that Russia is waging in Ukraine, which it says does not intentionally target civilians despite the killing of thousands of civilians.

The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations said that Russia is not in a position to preach to others given what it is doing itself in Ukraine.

But Senator Alexei Pushkov said that the West fell into a trap of its own making, when it revealed the double standards by which it deals with different countries based on political preferences based on self-interests.

Pushkov wrote on the Telegram application: “The absolute support of the United States and the West for Israel’s actions dealt a strong blow to Western foreign policy in the eyes of the Arab world and the entire global South.”

Knott: The most important way Russia will benefit from the Gaza crisis is to score points in the court of global public opinion.

Markov, the Kremlin advisor, stated that Russia views the Gaza crisis as an opportunity to strengthen its influence in the region by portraying itself as a potential peacemaker with relations with all parties.

Moscow has offered to host a regional meeting of foreign ministers, and Putin said Russia was well placed to help.

Putin added to an Arab television channel in October: “We have very stable and practical relations with Israel, and we have had friendly relations with Palestine for decades, and our friends know that. Russia, from my point of view, can also make its own contribution to the settlement process.” .

Markov said there are also potential economic benefits in addition to the advantage of the West withdrawing financial and military resources from Ukraine.

“Russia will benefit from the increase in oil prices that will result from this war... (and) Russia will benefit from any conflict to which the United States and the European Union devote resources because that reduces the resources allocated to the anti-Russian regime in Ukraine,” he explained.

Alex Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Center, expressed his belief that Moscow has modified its policy in the Middle East because of the war in Ukraine.

He said: “My interpretation of this is that war has become the organizing principle of Russian foreign policy and (because of) relations with Iran, which brings the issue of military hardware into the equation. For example, the pivotal Russian war effort is of greater importance than relations with Israel.”

Deterioration of relationships

Russia's relations with Israel, which were usually close and practical, were damaged.

Moscow's reception of a Hamas delegation, less than two weeks after the "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation, angered Israel, prompting it to summon Russian Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov because he sent "a message that legitimizes terrorism."

The resentment was mutual. The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Israeli Ambassador Alexander Ben Zvi at least twice for talks, and the two countries' envoys to the United Nations clashed in a war of words after Moscow's representative questioned the scope of the definition of Israel's right to defend itself.

Mikhail Bogdanov, one of Russia's deputy foreign ministers, said that Israel had stopped regularly warning Moscow of air strikes it was carrying out inside Russia's ally, Syria.

Gabuev: Moscow modified its policy in the Middle East due to the war in Ukraine

When an Israeli minister, who has since been suspended, expressed his acceptance of the idea of Israel launching a nuclear strike on the Gaza Strip, Russia said that the statements raised “a large number of questions” and wondered whether they constituted an official recognition by Israel that it possesses nuclear weapons.

Amir Whitman, a member of Netanyahu's Likud Party, said that Israel will one day punish Russia for its position.

Whitman stated in an interview with the Russian RT channel in October: “We will end this war (with Hamas)... and after that, Russia will pay the price.” He added, "Russia supports Israel's enemies. After that, we will not forget what you are doing. We will come and make sure that Ukraine will win."

(Reuters, Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed)