When Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone this month with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, their first conversation in weeks, the two leaders found themselves in an unusual dynamic, dealing not as partners but against the backdrop of their countries' historical tensions.

This is how the British newspaper The Guardian began its report on the deterioration of relations between Israel and Russia to their lowest levels since the fall of the Soviet Union.

The newspaper said that evidence of previous friendly relations between Putin and Netanyahu is that the latter used billboards showing him next to Putin during the election campaign in Israel, but the events of last October 7 and Russia’s pro-Palestinian position led to a decisive divergence between them.

The Guardian report quoted Nikolai Kozanov, a former Russian diplomat in Tehran and now an associate professor at Qatar University, as saying that relations between the two countries are at their lowest levels ever since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Different narratives

Dr. Vera Michelin Shapir, of King's College London and a former official at Israel's National Security Council who specializes in Russian foreign affairs, said the divergent accounts published by Israel and Russia after the call on December 10 gave insight into the tense relationship.

Netanyahu said in a statement that he spoke with Putin and expressed his dissatisfaction with the "anti-Israel positions" taken by Moscow's envoys at the United Nations, while expressing "strong rejection" of Russia's "dangerous" cooperation with its ally, Iran.

At the same time, the Kremlin highlighted the “catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip,” with Putin saying that Israel’s military response to the Hamas attack should not lead to “such dire consequences for the civilian population.”

One day before their conversation, Moscow supported the United Nations resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and said that the United States was “complicit in the brutal massacre committed by Israel,” referring to the martyrdom of more than 21,000 people since the start of the war.

Greater transformation

The Guardian commented that ending the complex agreement between Russia and Israel highlighted the larger global transformation that had occurred, and Kozanov said that the Kremlin’s position on the Middle East had been the same since Putin launched his war in Ukraine, explaining that Russia “quickly realized that relations with the West had been damaged for a long time.” ".

Kozanov added that Moscow, after the start of the war, began looking for ways to strengthen its economic and military relations with Arab countries while also getting closer to Iran, which was providing artillery shells, drones and missiles to Russia.

The report stated that in a rare one-day trip that highlighted his warm relationship with the main players in the Middle East, Putin visited the Emirates and Saudi Arabia earlier this month, where he received a great welcome despite his status in the West as wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of committing war crimes. 

Empty noise

The pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia wrote after the trip: “Putin’s visit to the Middle East confirmed that the isolation of Russia that the West talks about is just empty noise.”

Kozanov said the war between Israel and Hamas provided Moscow with a rare opportunity to court the broader Global South, which accused the Western rules-based order of hypocrisy regarding Palestinian martyrs.

In the process, the Kremlin has been keen to claim the moral high ground, despite its devastating record of human rights violations during the wars in Chechnya, Syria, and more recently in Ukraine.

“Putin’s Russia is very pragmatic,” Kozanov said, adding that Moscow felt events in Gaza were pulling the Global South away from the West and could make his positions more sympathetic to Moscow.

Delicate balance

The Guardian said that over two decades under Putin, Russia and Israel sought to achieve a delicate balance. While the two countries have often found themselves on opposite ends of the geopolitical spectrum, Israel has sought to engage with Russia in Syria and has been careful not to antagonize Moscow, given its ties to Iran.

Putin also courted Moscow's large Jewish population and saw Israel as an ally in keeping alive the memory of World War II, the massive historical event around which the Russian leader sought to build his presidency.

Micheline Shabert said that both countries need each other, but the Russian war on Ukraine, which made Putin a pariah in most parts of the West, put Israel in a dilemma.

Disagreement ignites

In the spring of 2022, these tensions first spilled into the public when Russian officials accused Israel of supporting a “neo-Nazi regime” in Kiev. The dispute flared after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov resurfaced an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory in which he claimed that Adolf Hitler “has blood.” Jewish,” comments that Israel described as “disgraceful and intolerable.”

As the Hamas attack occurred, Russian officials and state-controlled media were quick to take a pro-Palestinian stance and cheered Israeli military and intelligence blunders, which were presented as evidence of Western weakness.

The newspaper concludes that the war between Israel and Hamas has already proven to be a victory for Putin by helping to distract the West from the war in Ukraine, where the United States and the European Union are struggling to move forward with two crucial aid packages considered vital to Kiev’s long-term survival.

Source: Guardian