THE SOVIET-MIDDLE EAST NEXUS: FOREIGN POLICY OF THE SOVIET UNION TOWARDS THE MIDDLE EAST

Abstract

Up until the end of the Second World War, Soviet policies toward the Middle East had
shown low interest and involvement mainly due to the weakness of the Communist movement
in its projections for development and expansion, but also because of the directions of its
foreign policy course. Therefore, it is fair to state that the Soviet Union became strongly
involved in the Middle East region only after the ending of the Second World War while the
actual penetration to the Middle East region dates from the period of Khrushchev rule. The
paper examines Soviet Union policy on the Middle East since the fall of the Russian Empire
until the end of Communist rule under Gorbachev. It deals with the Arab syndrome of Soviet
foreign policy, the shifts in Soviet policy directions, and its involvement and implications in
the broader scheme of the Soviet-Middle East nexus during eight decades.