The AUB Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IFI) is pleased to announce the publication of an analysis by IFI’s new Associate Fellow Yeghia Tashjian, titled "The Great Game in the Levant: Russia’s Interests in Lebanon."
Russia's geopolitical interests in the region have increased in the past few years. "Although it only has a naval military base in Tartus (Syria) and no borders on the Mediterranean Sea," Moscow has succeeded in impacting country's in the region, including Lebanon. Russia particularly intervenes in finding solutions to the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon and in government formation.
This paper examines the history and background of Russia’s pro-active diplomacy towards Lebanon. For this purpose, it discusses Russia’s energy security, security-military, and political relations with Lebanon, and explores whether Moscow has long-term interests in the country and what are the limitations It faces.
Yeghia Tashjian is a regional analyst and researcher. He has graduated from the American University of Beirut in Public Policy and International Affairs. He pursued his BA at Haigazian University in Political Science in 2013. He founded the New Eastern Politics forum/blog in 2010. He was a Research Assistant at the Armenian Diaspora Research Center at Haigazian University. Currently, he is the Regional Officer of Women in War, a gender-based think tank. He has participated in international conferences in Frankfurt, Vienna, Uppsala, New Delhi, Rome, and Yerevan, and presented various topics from minority rights to regional security issues. His thesis topic was on China’s geopolitical and energy security interests in Iran and the Persian Gulf. He is a contributor to the various local and regional newspapers, columnist for the Armenian Weekly, and presenter of the “Turkey Today” program in Radio Voice of Van. Lately, he has joined the European Geopolitical Forum as an affiliate expert on the Middle East and South Caucasus.