Some 82 percent of respondents to a Russian radio poll have said they deem Moscow’s approval of fresh UN Security Council sanctions against Iran a “mistake.”
The poll, conducted during a live Radio Moscow interview with Rajab Safarov, director of the Center for Contemporary Iranian Studies, comes one week after the Security Council voted to impose a fourth round of sanctions against Iran, tightening financial and military restrictions on the Islamic Republic.
The poll shows that 82 percent of respondents “assess Moscow’s support of Western anti-Iran policies as well as the ‘Yes’ vote against the country at the Security Council as a mistake ,” RIANovosti’s Persian service reported Wednesday.
“The US and the West are seeking to lure Moscow over to their side, but this is not to Russia’s advantage, since in the end Russia will pay the loss,” Safarov was quoted as saying.
Noting Iran’s central role in regional and international issues, Safarov went on to stress that by distancing itself away from Iran, Moscow has jeopardized its ties with Tehran.
He highlighted that Tehran could now pose as a new energy rival with its pipeline to Europe.
Safarov added that as a regional power, Iran would not allow any foreign interference in its internal issues, and praised Iran, Turkey and Brazil’s nuclear declaration as an “international document, which offered the world a solution to the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program.”
The pundit also urged Moscow not to renege on a deal to deliver S-300 defense systems to Iran, and to reassess its current policies.
In response to Safarov’s remarks, Yevgeny Satanovsky, the president of the Institute of Middle East Studies, argued that any attempt to dictate policies to Russia is “meaningless.”
“Russia has a president and he is Dmitry Medvedev and not Mr. Ahmadinejad (the Iranian president). Russia has a prime minister, Vladimir Putin…and the country has leaders who weigh positive and negative aspects of their decisions,” Satanovsky said.
“It is true that Iran is an ancient civilization, which was on the map long before Russia, Europe and the US, but in recent centuries Russia has gotten used to its place on the map and the fact that it has its own leadership,” he added.
Satanovsky said as long as Russia adopts a policy that it wants, talk of “conspiracies and alliances” is meaningless.
“Of course, one could sulk but this childish behavior would show that Tehran has not grasped Russia’s intentions,…Russia has repeatedly told Iran that its actions with regards to the international community are not acceptable,” he added.
The Middle East expert went on to note that Moscow-Tehran relations were dictated by the Russian intelligence service.
“The 90s intelligence reports under Vyacheslav Ivanovich consider Russia’s main problem to be Iran — not NATO, the US or even China,” he said.
He said even current threats such as Afghanistan’s drug problem and a possible threat of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are seen as secondary.
He also claimed that Iran was alone in deeming Russia a partner, as Moscow had never been “fooled into” an alliance with Tehran.
The results of the poll were announced at the end of the interview, with only 18 percent of the viewers agreeing with Satanovsky.
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Comment: 82% of Russians disapprove of the decision on Iran sanctions by their otherwise rather popular President and government. Could that have happened in the USA? Hopefully this news report will open the eyes of those who seem to have a hard time differentiating between Russia and the USA.
This poll also completely destroys the allegations we’ve seen recently on this blog that Russians are racist, hate Muslims, are imperialists, want to accommodate with the Empire, etc.
Medvedev and Putin are known for carefully watching public opinion polls, and changing course when their policies are unpopular. Let’s hope the same will happen here.
@Carlo: let me also make clear here that Evgenii Satanovskii is the President of the Russian-Jewish congress and a notorious Zionist. He is something like a Russian version of Perle or Dershowitz. Needless to say, he represents nothing but Zionist interests.
The funny thing is that he last name is “SATANovskii” which can be translated as “Satanov’s” or even “Satan’s” while Michael Chertov’s last name *literally* means “The Devil’s”.
Are these guys “showing the flag” or what?! LOL!
Oh, yes, I know Satanovsky, I’ve heard about him before. Funny how he praises Putin and Medvedev as “great leaders” because they approved sanctions against Iran. Does he think they will be flattered with his comments and approve even tougher sanctions? What a stupid comment he did.
Of course, had Russia not approve sanctions, he would say how his country was running counter the interest of peace and the “civilized world”…
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82% of Russians disapprove of the decision on Iran sanctions
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This is illogical: The proposition
“Some 82 percent of _respondents_ to a Russian _radio_ _poll_ have said they deem Moscow’s approval of fresh UN Security Council sanctions against Iran a “mistake.”
does not in the least imply
“82% of Russians disapprove of the decision on Iran sanctions “
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Could that have happened in the USA?
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Sure, Bush and Cheney ignored popular opinion all the time.
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This poll also completely destroys the allegations we’ve seen recently on this blog that Russians are racist, hate Muslims, are imperialists, want to accommodate with the Empire, etc.
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See above. Anyway, I read that report on Press TV yesterday. There is nothing scientific about that poll. That’s like getting a poll in the US of listeners to National Public Radio about the war in Iraq; educated people who listen to educated media tend to have educated opinions. It proves nothing except something about those who listen to that show. Listeners to Glenn Beck will poll differently, obviously.
Tell those on the receiving end of Russian racism, anti-Muslim sentiment, and imperialism that it it merely a figment of their individual, collective, and historical imaginations.
There is an old saying: “one has to take the bitter with the sweet”. While the strong pro-Russia sentiment on this blog appears to me to be quite incongruent with a comprehensive and coherent anti-imperialist perspective, I do appreciate all of Saker’s hard work in bringing often unheard perspectives to the fore. Best regards and
Peace
Ishamid, I have to admit that you are right about the poll. We can’t know what a countrywide poll, with thousands of interviewed people, would say about the matter, of course. But I really imagine that quite a good number (probably even the majority) of them would support Iran. Russians hate much more NATO than any Islamic country, and many Russians are convinced (and they aren’t wrong, by the way) that Western countries support terrorism and separatism in Russia. And they know (also correctly) that Iran never did this, as for many years I’ve followed the Russian press and never seen such claim.
Anyway, you misinterpreted what Saker meant when he asked if something like this would have happened in the US: his question was “If people in the US was asked if they agree on sanctions against Iran, what would they answer?” Of course, the great majority would approve very harsh sanctions about this “rogue state”.
Ishamid,
I think we are also taking the bitter with the sweet. If Russia weren’t there, Iran would be in a much worse position in relation to the US. That said, Russia is certainly an opportunist. Iran, and any other country should never hang all their hopes on Russia. Which is precisely why Iran cultivates relationships with China, Brazil, Venezuela, Turkey, and the Non Aligned Movement. Word has it that Iran is moving closer to Georgia(!)
http://www.voltairenet.org/article165570.html
Read that and tell me that’s not funny!
I couldn’t find any recent poll about the Russians opinion on Iran, but these two (from 2007) are interesting:
http://www.levada.ru/press/2007082405%281%29.htm
In this, 60% of Russians considered the US missile defense the greatest threat against Russian security, and 8% the Iranian nuclear program. Also, 37% of Russians considered the Iranian nuclear program either a “very big” or “big enough” threat, while 57% considered it a “small threat” or “no threat at all”.
Then there is another one, also from 2007:
http://www.levada.ru/press/2007101504.htm
Here, Russians were asked if their country should keep cooperating with Iran in the nuclear sector: 38% said it should, 28% said it shouldn’t, and 34% couldn’t answer – opinions were very divided, and there is a big number of undecided people. But when asked how they regard possible pinpoint strikes against Iranian nuclear installation (the question was clear about this, it doesn’t ask about a total war, general attacks or invasion, just precision attacks against Iranian nuclear sites), 8% would consider it positively, 70% negatively and 22% said it is difficult to answer (it is not hard to guess what a similar poll in the US would show).
These polls aren’t new, I know. But they were made among thousands of Russians by a very serious polling institute. And from the answers, we see that many times Russians are divided or can’t answer about Iran, but also that they are higly against the use of force against this country, and don’t consider it a threat whatsoever. What a pity that they didn’t make a poll regarding the lastest round of UN sanctions against Iran.
This is a couple of days old, but I wonder if it has anything to do with Russia’s support for UNSC sanctions.
http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Iran_defies_sanctions_with_gas_pipelines_999.html
Iran defies sanctions with gas pipelines
by Staff Writers
Tehran (UPI) Jun 17, 2010
“…Iran is also gearing up to make a move to participate in the giant $11 billion Nabucco gas pipeline project to pump Central Asian gas to Europe via the Islamic republic’s new found friend Turkey, NATO’s only Muslim member.
If Iran succeeds in joining Nabucco, that would be a big setback for Russia, which backed the sanctions. Moscow fervently opposes the plan to pump up to 31 billion cubic meters of gas a year to Europe, which currently is heavily dependent on Russia for its energy….”
I agree with Vyacheslav Ivanovich the Iranian regime has been working to undermine with covert assistance from the Saudis, CIA and western intelligence Russia and Russian interests since the Islamic regime came into existence beginning in Afghanistan in 79 then Bosnia and Chechnya.
Why would they want to support a theocratic regime that will eventually disappear with the mass majority of the populace hostile to the ruling regime.
@jack: the Iranian regime has been working to undermine with covert assistance from the Saudis, CIA and western intelligence Russia and Russian interests since the Islamic regime came into existence beginning in Afghanistan in 79 then Bosnia and Chechnya.
I have to disagree here. Yes, Iran did collaborate with the CIA in Bosnia and, more generally, it had to side with the Itzebegovich, Silajdzic and the rest of the CIA stooges who triggered this war. But you have to realize the HUGE public pressure Iran was under to do so as millions were poured by the USA and Saudi Arabia to present this war as a war of religions rather than what it was: a war of thuggish mafias. Also, Iran could not simply turn away from the plight of the Bosnian Muslims who did really suffer a great deal from this war. Even though I personally consider the Bosnian Muslim leaders as the primary culprits for what happened in Bosnia, I cannot blame Iran for supporting them.
Chechnia is a totally different case. Iran had NOTHING to do with the Chechen Wahabis or with the Chechen terrorists and gangsters. Iran paid MINIMAL lip service to the issue of human rights for the Chechen population, but in reality Iran supported fully Russian operations and goals in Chechnya.
I remind you that Iran almost when to war with the Wahabi crazies in Afghanistan over their kidnapped diplomats and the Iranians knew and understood full well that the very same type of Wahabi crazies were running the entire insurgency in Chechnia. Those Chechen leaders who were not Wahabi crazies (like Hattab) were simply murderous thugs (like Basaev or Baraev). Also, the Iranians knew that these crazed Chechen used their de-facto independence to attack Daghestan and Russia itself. Russia simply had no other option than to bo back in and kill off the entire Chechen leadership and that is what Russia did. At NO moment did Iran side with the Chechens and I think that the Russians should show gratitude to Iran for doing so. In the Muslim word it is extremely difficult not to side with the shaheed against the kuffar, and yet the Iranians did so, at least in their actions.
The reality is that Iran and Russia have a long history of covertly working together in Afghanistan. The Tadjik Ahmad Shah Massoud was, in reality, a GRU agent and his forces recieved a great deal of support from Russia in their fight against the Taliban.
Lastly, to speak of Iran as a theocratic regime totally overlooks the fact that it is a Islamic Republic, which is very different from a “theocracy”. This is not the place to go into this in detail, but I advise you to study the structure of the Iranian government and polity, as well as the Iranian Constitution, and you might be amazed of how DE-centralized the power is in this Republic.
Kind regards,
The Saker