Russia made headlines Oct. 5 for vetoing a UN Security Council resolution against Syria’s regime that had already been significantly weakened in hopes of gaining Russia’s support. Russia has been assailed by the US, France, and Britain, who backed the resolution.
Many chalked it up to Russia’s economic interests, but as a country nervous about unrest in its own diverse country, its support for the Assad regime is also philosophical, the Monitor reports.
A traditional ally with trade ties worth close to $20 billion, Russia has a strong financial stake in the Assad regime's survival. But Moscow's support goes beyond pocketbook issues. As a vast country that has seen its share of uprising and revolution, the one-time superpower tends to support autocracy as the lesser evil and is skeptical of Western intervention – particularly in the wake of NATO's Libya campaign.
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“Russia is now a business-oriented country, and the Russian government obviously wants to protect the investments made by its businessmen in Syria,” Yevgeny Satanovsky, president of the independent Institute of Middle Eastern Studies in Moscow. “But … the main reason in being so stubborn [blocking UN action against Syria] is because Moscow perceives that the Western bloc is wrecking stability in the Middle East in pursuit of wrong-headed idealistic goals. A lot of Russians are horrified at what’s going on in the Middle East and they’re happy with their government’s position.”
