It was no coincidence that Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution
on Syria just hours after twin attacks killed a moderate Muslim official
and injured the Mufti in the central Russian republic, Tartarstan, last
week. Russia sees the assassination as a direct attack on moderate
Islam by Islamic radicals. And the veto, Russia’s third since the Syrian
crisis began, is grounded in a deep-rooted policy of war against one
enemy: Islamic radicals.
Russia supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad because of a strategic relationship and what it views as the same fight in Syria and Russia against the Salafi and extremist Islamic threat.
Since the beginning of the Syrian revolution, Russia has accepted the official government line and branded the opposition as terrorists, Islamic radicals or Salafists. A wide array of explanations have been given by Russia, as well as the West, for its support of Assad, some of which are to the detriment of Russian interests in the Arab world. They cited strategic assets that the Russian Navy has in a Mediterranean seaport, arms sales to the Syrian military, a general East–West rivalry, and even Russian President Vladimir Putin’s refusal, “on principle,” of the removal of national leaders by outside intervention. But the Russian position is actually rooted in a deep-seated fear, and sometimes paranoia, of the spread of Islamic radicalism.
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About this Article
Summary:
It was no coincidence
that Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution on Syria just hours
after twin attacks on moderate Muslim officials in a central Russian
republic last week, writes Amal Mudallali. Russia does not see itself as
an ally of Assad, but as a target, like him, of an extremist Salafist
terror plot to destabilize Russia.
Author:
Amal Mudallali Published on: Wednesday, Jul 25, 2012 |
Syria Since the beginning of the Syrian revolution, Russia has accepted the official government line and branded the opposition as terrorists, Islamic radicals or Salafists. A wide array of explanations have been given by Russia, as well as the West, for its support of Assad, some of which are to the detriment of Russian interests in the Arab world. They cited strategic assets that the Russian Navy has in a Mediterranean seaport, arms sales to the Syrian military, a general East–West rivalry, and even Russian President Vladimir Putin’s refusal, “on principle,” of the removal of national leaders by outside intervention. But the Russian position is actually rooted in a deep-seated fear, and sometimes paranoia, of the spread of Islamic radicalism.
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