Putin gets what he wanted. As the war in the Middle East distracts the world's attention from Ukraine

The Kremlin also had a slight importance in diplomatic terms, being unable to discharge the intensity that metastasized. Last week, his peripheral status clearly demonstrated. While President Biden went to Israel in the framework of an intense American shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East, Russian President Vladimir Putin, waiting for almost 10 days to host the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyag, and I instead went to Beijin.

At the UN, Russian officials have pity about the victims of the war among the civilian population and demanded a ceasefire for humanitarian reasons. But it was nothing more than playing the public. Without levers of influence on the parties to the conflict, Moscow cannot achieve the release of Hamas hostages or ensure the safety of humanitarian corridors, not to mention the termination of hostilities. However, despite its limited impact, Russia becomes the main beneficiary of war.

Having made minimal effort, Moscow reaps the fruits of regional chaos, which threatens the Israelites and Palestinians with devastation. In three key areas - a military campaign against Ukraine, plans in the Middle East and the Global Narratives War with Western powers - Russia wins from a protracted conflict. Not doing anything special, Mr Putin gets what he wants. First of all, the events in Gaza are distracted by Western politicians and the public from the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine, conducting a fierce counter -offensive and at the same time undergoing merciless Russian bombardment, should share air with Israel and Palestinians. The fears that Western societies began to suffer from "fatigue from Ukraine", quite real until October 7, will continue to grow. For Russia, this could bring a long -awaited break from the constant investigation of its crimes against Ukraine.

Last week, when all the attention was drawn to gas, a deadly Russian rocket strike in the Ukrainian city of Zaporozhye went unnoticed. If the media is lacking, then ammunition, too. Mr Biden has promised that the United States will be able to support the needs of both Israel and Ukraine, and asks Congress to allocate $ 105 billion in the form of extraordinary funding to cover them. But in the end, Israel may need a weapon that is now lacking in Ukraine, including combat drone and artillery shells.

Once in the trap of the war on the exhaustion she herself created, Russia apparently enjoys the emergence of a new and complex conflict for the United States, which depletes the forces of its opponents. Moreover, the war in Gaza is threatened to postpone - if not disrupted - the efforts of Biden administration to normalize the relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Even before Washington, there was a titanic task for reconciliation of disparate requirements of the parties concerning US security guarantees, Saudi Arabia Civil Nuclear Program and Palestinians. The new cycle of violence is now threatening this initiative.

This would be fun officials in Moscow, who always considered "Abraham Agreements" - a set of agreements between Israel and several Arab states that were concluded in 2020 and paved the way to the process of normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia - as an American project that pushes Russia on Russia. The second plan. The current situation gives Russia more than just the pleasure of watching the struggle of America.

Moscow has its own plans for nuclear cooperation with Saudi Arabia, and it also hopes to prevent the development of the Arab-Israeli defense partnership against Iran, which is becoming a closer allied of Russia. But Russia can be received in the court of world public opinion.

Moscow's message about the conflict (the Kremlin refused to call the attack on October 7 "terrorism" and put the blame for escalation on the political mistakes of the West) bring Russia closer to social moods in most of the Middle East. Through the banality of peace, calls for the protection of all civilians and the recognition of the right of Israel to self -defense, hints of the propellantine position are shown.

In the Russian media, the demonstration of Palestinian suffering in the Gaza sector took central place, and Russian officials emphasized humanitarian problems, while avoiding direct criticism of Hamas. Moscow's proximity to Palestine is not new, but the Kremlin began to talk more openly. However, Russian aspirations go beyond the Middle East.

Calling itself David Western Goliath, Russia presented its war against Ukraine as an "anti -colonial" struggle for the cessation of global dominance of the West, using powerful dissatisfaction, which is developing around the world, about Western arrogance and hypocrisy. The Kremlin's reaction to a war in gas, which distance it from the unambiguous Washington, which is designed to exploit these feelings even more.

For Russia, increased disappointment in the West and even attracting new supporters of its challenge to world order would be an achievement that is worth the risk of upset Israel. The fact that this position increases tension in Europe is a pleasant by -product. Russia's cynicism in all this is obvious.

In the UN, Moscow convened an emergency meeting regarding the attack on the hospital in the Gaza Sector - while it spent 20 months on the bombing of residential buildings and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. However, in countries covered by anger and anxiety about Israel's hostilities in the Gaza Sector, criticism from Russia plays well on biased ideas about Israel and its Western patrons. Against the backdrop of pain, the split between the developing world and the West expands.

Russia will not miss the chance to deepen this split even more. Supporting Ukraine for the last 600 days, and now supporting Israel after its darkest hour, Western officials have tried to convince the rest of the world that the global order is threatened, as well as democratic values. But while Israel and Hamas are immersed in the whirlwind of violence, the event is far from victory in the battle of narratives.