Motivations and Limitations of Russia's Policy of Engagement with Hamas
In 2006,Russia took the initiative to establish official ties with Hamas,and the two sides have maintained long-term contact.The driving force of Russia's engagement policy towards Hamas can be examined from three perspectives.From the perspective of great power diplomacy,Russia insists on engaging with Hamas as a topic,forcing the West to coordinate with it under the framework of the United Nations and the Quartet.After the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis,the coordination between Russia and the West on the issue of Hamas has given way to great power games and great power confrontation.From the perspective of regional strategy,Russia strives to maintain a neutral position on contact with Hamas as one of means to gain a voice on the Palestinian issue and the Palestinian-Israeli issue,and takes contact with Hamas as a topic in its dealings with Israel,as well as a carrier of close relations with regional countries.From the perspective of domestic politics,the driving force of Russia's policy towards Hamas mainly comes from domestic security policy and national policy towards Muslim groups.In the context of the long-term conflict between Russia and Ukraine,Russia and Hamas value each other's strategic value and are also interested in maintaining and strengthening contact.However,Hamas is not the core interest of Russia in the Middle East.It is only one of the Palestinian organizations that Russia interacts with,and other countries or organizations are also engaging and even cooperating with Hamas.Therefore,Russia's engagement policy towards Hamas has its limitations.