Why Russia isn't fully backing Iran? Putin points to Israel's Russian-speaking community
Russian President Vladimir Putin (Getty Images)
Russia supports Iran "in its fight for its legitimate interests." However, the aggressor state allegedly also takes into account the fact that nearly 2 million Russian-speaking people live in Israel, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
"As for whether Russia is a reliable or unreliable ally — we must show a certain solidarity [with Iran], but every conflict is quite unique. I want to point out that nearly 2 million people live in Israel who came from the former Soviet Union and Russia. Today, it is almost a Russian-speaking country. And of course, we always take that into account," Putin said.
He added that Russia has traditionally maintained very good, friendly relations with the Arab and Islamic world.
"And given that about 15% of our population is Muslim, we are observers in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. You see, that's also a factor. We have to take this and other circumstances into account. We've developed friendly relations with Iran, and because of that, we always fulfill our commitments," the Russian president said.
According to him, the same applies to the Russian-Iranian track.
"We support Iran in its fight for its legitimate interests, including its interest in peaceful nuclear energy. We have always held this position. Our principled stance in this conflict has not changed," Putin added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently stated that Russia supports Iran's nuclear program. Such cooperation between aggressive regimes, he warned, creates new threats to global stability.
Earlier reports also indicated that Russian nuclear scientists remain in Iran. At the same time, Vladimir Putin claimed that the Kremlin allegedly has an agreement with Israeli leadership not to strike Russian specialists working on the Bushehr nuclear power plant.
