Russia reversing its position from calling for a ceasefire to not explicitly condemning Hamas and even sending messages of support has been criticised by The Élysée, which calls Russia’s behaviour a way to destabilise the West further.
Since the attack on Israel by Hamas – listed as a terrorist organisation by the EU – and the Israeli response, particularly in the Gaza Strip, which includes allegations of war crimes, Russia has been performing a balancing act.
In its first reaction to the Hamas attack on 7 October, Russian diplomacy, through Mikhail Bogdanov, Deputy Foreign Minister and Vladimir Putin’s Special Representative for the Middle East, called on “the parties to the conflict to cease fire”.
On 8 October, Russia condemned the attacks on civilians at the UN Security Council, but without naming Hamas – unlike European countries and the US, which strongly condemned the Islamist movement’s actions.
Recently, some have suggested that the Russians may have been involved in the Hamas attack, as former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko indicated in an interview with Euractiv. “I am absolutely convinced that there is a Russian interest, Russian hands, in preparing for the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel,” he said.
“I am absolutely sure that Wagner’s Russian instructors in Syria were transferred to Hamas in Gaza and took part in training terrorists to prepare the absolutely barbaric attack against Israel from Gaza,” the former Ukrainian president told Euractiv.
Euractiv asked the Élysée if France had any information on possible influence or direct action by Russian nationals or organisations in the Middle East conflict.
The French president’s office replied that it had “no knowledge of such operations”.
However, “the Russians have adopted an extremely one-sided position of warning against Israel and supporting the Palestinians”, the Elysée continued, describing this as “an interesting reversal of the Russian position”.
Paris thus denounced Russia’s “total cynicism”.
“I want to warn that the United States must not intervene in the conflict in Palestine or Israel. If America chooses to do so, we will openly support Palestine,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said, adding that the conflict would demonstrate the “failure” of US policy in the region.
This message was received by Hamas, which thanked the Russian President for his support and hailed “Russia’s efforts to put an end to Zionist aggression”.
Several leaders of the Islamist movement have been received in Moscow in recent years, including Ismaël Haniyeh, who was welcomed to the Russian capital by Sergueï Lavrov in September 2022.
The military relationship between Putin’s regime and that of the Mullahs in Iran – which actively supports Hamas – could also explain the change in the Russian position. Many Iranian-made weapons (drones and artillery ammunition) were used by the Kremlin in its strikes against Ukraine.
Lastly, France considers that this “cynical calculation” by the Kremlin “calls for an extremely robust, extremely dynamic response on our part, from a total condemnation of acts of terrorism, unfailing solidarity with Israel and an initiative to basically moderate the crisis and find a political solution as soon as possible”.
On 9 October, Commission spokesman Eric Mamer warned that Russia was using “everything that happens on the international stage either to fuel instability or to strengthen its campaign against Ukraine”.
(Davide Basso | Euractiv.fr)
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