ABSTRACT
The Middle East has traditionally and historically held great interest for the powers in the Kremlin, whether they be tsarist or communist. Access to warm waters from the Black Sea as well as geographic proximity to the country’s southern borders were long factors influencing Russian interests and policies in the area. Middle Eastern oil and natural gas supplies have been of marginal economic value to the Soviet Union insofar as they have become part of package deals that enable the Soviets to acquire these resources on a barter basis, while selling these same resources themselves on the world market for hard currency. The ability to control or influence the flow of Middle Eastern oil upon which Western Europe, Japan, and even to some extent the Americans are dependent would certainly augment Soviet power in the context of East-West competition.
