The Soviet Command Economy & Russia Today

Katerina Oskarsson (2013) chiefly pointed out the relationship of the Russian Government with the Middle Eastern regimes. Following the Afghanistan and Iraq war, Russia tried utmost to enter the Middle East and warm up the cold relations with energy.

The bad diplomatic relations of Iran with the United States of America always push Iran towards Russia, the former superpower. Russia is the main trading partner of Iran, which reflects in the multibillion-dollar trade partnerships, and the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant with a cost of $1.2 billion. But, Iran's bad relations with the Gulf countries is a constant headache for Russia. Although, Russia has always tried to enter the Gulf markets but did not receive a warm welcome.

Russia is overwhelmingly shaking hands with the Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, and Iraq in the energy sector and there are myriad small, medium and large scale nuclear, electricity and other energy projects are underway between Russia and the Gulf countries.

Saudi Arabia signed a MoU with Russia in 2010 that would cater to the rising electricity demands of Saudi Arabia in the future. The UAE also signed the agreements with the Russian government over the construction of a nuclear reactor. Concerning the Energy partnerships, Putin once said: "On the face of it, it seems that we are rivals, but considering the world's growing demand for energy, that is not so." Not only Russia, but Gulf countries are also urged to make healthy relations with Russia, and the energy sector is the basic hand-shaking tool of restoring relations. (Katerina Oskarsson, 2013)