From Russia with Love: are Riyadh and Moscow getting closer?

I write this from my hotel room overseeing the Russian Foreign Ministry's iconic main building, a gigantic Stalinist-style skyscraper that was built as one of Moscow's famous "Seven Sisters" between 1947 and 1953. Having witnessed the rise and fall of the Soviet empire, the building has recently re-emerged as a global power broker, particularly when it comes to the Middle East.

However, for an outsider, Moscow's foreign policy seems intensely confusing to say the least. For instance, Russia remains the only power in the world (aside from Iran) that backs Syria's dictatorship, a brutal regime that justifies its actions by claiming it is a victim of its anti-Israeli, anti-American position.

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