As soon as Zelenskiy met with Blinken, Putin made an appointment with Lehi.
On January 19, Iranian President Lehi was invited by Putin to visit Russia for two days. This is Lehi's first visit to Russia after taking office, and it is also the second visit of an Iranian president to Russia after five years, which is of great significance.
These two are brothers and sisters with the same disease, both facing the pressure of Western sanctions, the impact of the new crown epidemic and geopolitical impact, although separated by territorial and religious feuds, but in today's complex international situation, it is normal for the two sides to come together.
Careful readers may find that this visit was proposed by Putin on his own initiative, and the timing is also very delicate, just after the three rounds of negotiations between Russia and the United States have become more and more deadlocked. Moreover, Iran has not been too involved in the situation between Russia and Ukraine, so why did Putin choose this critical moment to take Lech's hand?
To answer this question, we have to talk about Russia's strange geopolitical pattern. Although Russia has a large land area, it is very vulnerable to attack, other countries either have mountains or seas, and there is nothing around the core area of Russia, once the defense line becomes weak, it is not difficult to tear open an opening to come in.
This is why Russia fought a defensive war, not relying on geographical superiority, but only relying on God to appreciate food, taking advantage of the harsh climatic conditions to exhaust the enemy's logistical supplies, Napoleon and Hitler were planted on the weather. However, this kind of "killing a thousand enemies and losing eight hundred" is also a tragic victory.
Therefore, for Russia, the best defense is the offensive, as long as the sea outlet and the mountain are laid, it can grasp the strategic initiative. This is how the hatred between Russia and its neighboring countries comes from, small countries are directly destroyed, and large countries cannot escape the fate of being dismembered.
On the surface, Russia's expansion has been quite effective, and even half of Germany was pocketed during the Soviet period, but the internal differences brought about by expansion are objectively existent, and how can a twisted melon be sweet.
To put it bluntly, Russia has transformed external competition into internal pressure through expansion, not only to guard against east-west warfare, but also to pay attention to internal rebellion. If a strong centralized system is not guaranteed, regional disintegration and security problems can erupt simultaneously.
The series of dilemmas of the collapse of the Soviet Union is the best proof, Russia retained the southern steppes and Siberian plains, but lost the most important Ukrainian and Eastern European buffer belts (Poland, the Baltic states), the South without the Caucasus Mountains and the five Central Asian countries, from the world's only two superpowers, downgraded to a land state.
In order to eliminate the possibility of the rise of the empire, NATO violated the agreement with Gorbachev and expanded eastward without a bottom line. Now, Ukraine is also in danger, once lost, the equivalent of Russia's soft little belly exposed to NATO, so Putin will say, "Russia has no way out."
Now, things have taken a new turn for the better. First, Iran's supreme spiritual leader Khamenei released a simulated animation of "assassinating Trump", vowing to avenge Sulaimani and fight the United States to the end. Then there is the Iranian nuclear negotiations that have reached a critical point, but the United States still does not relax on the issue of the comprehensive lifting of Sanctions on Iran.
Iran, which has been sanctioned for more than 40 years, is difficult to maintain the influence of regional powers, and the only way is to take the initiative to get rid of Western isolation through external forces and seize the diplomatic initiative. To this end, Iran has proposed a "look east" policy, which is to develop relations with China and other countries, but also to deepen the partnership with Russia.
Lexi's visit to Russia at this time is also hoping to gain greater support from Russia before the talks arrive, effectively prevent the bullying behavior and unilateral sanctions of the United States, and win more chips at the negotiating table.
For Russia, Denmark, the Baltic states and Turkey all belong to NATO, and Russia has always been unsafe in the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea, not to mention Crimea, which is close to the Black Sea, which has only been recovered for a few years. Afghanistan is an "imperial graveyard" that neither the Soviet Union nor the United States has fought, and Putin is even less likely to risk gnawing on this hard bone and infiltrating the Indian Ocean.
As a result, the only promising outlet to the sea is the Persian Gulf, which is controlled by Iran. In addition, since Putin intervened in Syria in 2015, the Middle East region has become an important stage for Russia to exert its "smart strength", and for Iran, which also has interests in Syria, cooperation is obviously the best policy than fighting.
Speaking of which, Putin really has to thank Trump, if it were not for Chuanbao's desire to play behind closed doors and shrink the Middle East strategy, Russia really would not necessarily have the opportunity to enter the game.
In the political field, the question of greater concern is whether the two sides will reach long-term cooperation. Some media revealed that after China and Iran signed the "comprehensive cooperation plan", Russia and Iran also hope to formulate a road map to reach long-term cooperation in various fields.
In this regard, the Iranian ambassador to Russia responded in this way, the two sides do have this intention, Iran has already prepared a draft, Russia still has to consider it, it is certain that President Lech will not sign during his visit to Russia.
As for the economic field, the expansion of the two countries to deepen cooperation is too small, the same is a big energy country, no one is short of oil and gas, the previous cooperation is at most the signing of an energy swap agreement, Russia's oil and gas through the northern Caspian Sea pipeline to Iran, Iran through the southern pipeline to Russia to transport natural gas.
Don't ask why you still import what you have, ask that Iran is full of mountains, Russia is too large, and the cost of energy transportation in the country is much higher than that of imports.
Some experts also suggest that in the long run, don't just focus on trade cooperation, since Russia is also about to be kicked out of the "swift" international settlement system, you two can consider connecting to the banking network, settling in your own currency, and reducing your dependence on the US dollar.
Besides, isn't Lech still planning to buy $10 billion in Russian weapons and equipment this time, just to be able to use it? Let's say that the ideal is very beautiful, but it should not be realized at present.
In the final analysis, the cooperation between Russia and Iran is still to warm up the group and jointly enhance the influence of major powers.
The strategic center of gravity of the United States withdrew from the Middle East, and the regional power Iran was the happiest. Previously, Iranian foreign ministers have visited China and Oman one after another, and three Iranian diplomats have also landed in Saudi Arabia to try to play a role in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Russia seized the opportunity to build the "Greater Eurasian Partnership" and expand its circle of friends. The SCO has initiated the process of accepting Iran's accession, and has actively recruited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt as dialogue partners to bring together large energy suppliers and consumers to jointly combat the oil monopoly settled by the us dollar.
Two days ago, China, Russia, and Iraq announced that they would hold joint military exercises in the Persian Gulf, which was a shot in the arm for regional stability. Some people say that if China and Russia join hands, the international order will not be chaotic, so can China, Russia, and Iran join forces to defeat US hegemony? Let's wait and see.