Russia has maintained a delicate balancing act in the Middle East for decades, trying to navigate its warm relations with Israel even as it developed strong economic and military ties with Iran, a policy that could allow Moscow to play power broker.
Putin’s comments follow a mediation offer that he made in a call with U.S. President Donald Trump last weekend.
Trump said Wednesday that he told Putin to stay focused on finding an endgame to his own conflict with Ukraine.
“I said, ‘Do me a favor, mediate your own,’” Trump said he told Putin. “I said, ‘Vladimir, let’s mediate Russia first. You can worry about this later.’”
The comments represented a shift for Trump, who earlier this week said he was “open” to Putin’s offer to mediate in the Middle East.
