The significance of the role of Russia has been growing, in the Middle East and Central Asia, as an effective regional and international power, and a rising superpower that is regaining its lost global position as a result of the fall of the Soviet Union. Russia was known as a Tsarist great empire, and then as a center for the Eastern socialist bloc, vis-à-vis the capitalist Western bloc during the Cold War. This rise has become an interesting area to be studied. In this context, the article aims to critically discuss one of the internal and external pillars of the new Russian foreign directions, which is the Russian Orthodox Church, with which the Kremlin works on various issues, the most important of which is that of the Russian anti-terrorist front in the Middle East. Therefore, the article looks at Syria, as an exemplary case study for the strategy of the Russian anti-terrorist front.
The main argument of the article is that the leading Russian role in the anti-terrorist front in the Middle East is based on a strategy of national identity and security, under the pre-text of fighting against terrorism, while aspiring to be a dominant force in regional and international affairs. This led to politically employing the Russian Orthodox Church as a soft power tool to support its foreign policy, to achieve its interests and national security, which allows it to maintain a position in warm-waters, restore its geostrategic place in Eastern Europe, and preserve its internal security. However, the new Russian state also seeks to build an inseparable national identity that facilitates internal cohesion, and uses the church and its principles for creating an identity that adopts the Russia’s tsarist past.
There is an unstoppable desire among Russian leaders to restore their tsarist past, thus the church cooperates with the state, then both exchange roles and influence the global direction. This desire occurs within the Church as well, which wishes to return and emphasize its position in the state, after years of being controlled under the communist regime. The article tends to deliberate that the mutually beneficial relationship – between the church and the state – contributes more to the welfare of the state, its interests, and its international image, than it contributes to the church. Russia is exploiting the church’s position and its spiritual influence on Orthodox Christians to improve its image and legitimize its interventions in the affairs of other states, especially Syria. The article emphasizes, through the assistance of the Russian political analyst Alexander Dugin, the centrality of geopolitics in Russia’s new plans, and the significance of its geographical sphere of influence in restoring its Tsarist past.
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