Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! HAIH Premium subscribers got this episode (with no ads!) on Thursday, April 23.

When he took power 25 years ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to turn his country into a Great Power again, after it had endured a decade of poverty and humiliation following the collapse of the Soviet Union. But Russia is on the sidelines as wars and blockades in the Greater Middle East roil the global order. Yes, Russia has reportedly assisted Iran with satellite targeting intelligence, and its economy may benefit from the bump in oil prices. But Moscow is in no position to provide robust military assistance to its "strategic partner" Iran, and none of its representatives have been invited to the peace talks in Islamabad. Historian Sergey Radchenko explains why Russian influence is essentially irrelevant in a region where it once exerted an important presence.

Sergey Radchenko teaches history at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He is the author of To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power.

Further reading:

Putin's Persian Problem by Sergey Radchenko (Foreign Policy)