Israel is worried: Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defence Minister, recently alleged Russian arm sales to Middle Eastern countries are destabilizing the region. He is particularly concerned at Moscow’s increasing détente with Iran and its plans to supply Tehran with a highly sophisticated anti-aircraft missile system, the S300, which could threaten his country’s current air superiority.

During a recent visit to Russia, Barak attempted to exact a promise from Moscow that it would not deliver the S300s, but failed. Moscow’s increasingly warm alliance with Iran was reinforced when the Iranians hosted former Russian President Vladimir Putin in the capital last autumn, representing the first visit to Iran by a Russian head of state since 1943.

The Israelis, as well as their allies the Americans, are also concerned about Russia’s growing naval presence in the Mediterranean, partly facilitated by Russian naval bases in the Syrian ports of Tartous and Latakia. Russia abandoned its former naval presence in Syria in 1989 and in the intervening years until now, Russia’s closest access to the Mediterranean was via the Black Sea, where in recent times NATO vessels have proliferated.

For Moscow, this move could not have come at a more opportune moment because the Ukraine, which fears Russian aggression, is threatening to ban Russian ships from its Sebastopol base.

Moscow is also thought to have supplied Damascus advanced weaponry with a new arms deal in the offing that will include anti-aircraft and anti-tank missile systems, as well as surface-to-surface nuclear-capable 200 kilometre range Iskander missiles.

Russia had earlier promised Washington that it would not do so. However, America’s support for Georgia during the recent conflict over South Ossetia and Abkhazia has created a new dynamic along with US plans to station missile interceptors and a radar system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

As the Washington-based expert on geopolitics, Ariel Cohen recently pointed out, Russia’s military resurgence in the area would enable it to, “deploy electronic intelligence-gathering ships that could then improve its monitoring capabilities against NATO forces and Syria’s ability to monitor NATO and Israeli transmissions.”

He also warns, “Russian naval forces could deter or disrupt Israeli naval or air assets deployed in wartime against Syria or Hezbollah in Lebanon.”

Hugh Macleod, writing in the Guardian, suggests there are, “electronic eavesdropping stations on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights believed to be operated by Russian technicians.”

He quotes Ram Dor, an Israeli information chief for the armed forces as saying, “My assessment is that their facilities cover most of the state of Israel’s territory,” adding, “The Syrians share the intelligence that they gather with Hezbollah, and the other way around.”

In addition, there are rumours that Moscow and Damascus have approved a draft program of cooperation on nuclear power, but these are unconfirmed. However, Russia does insist that there is no evidence that Iran’s program is not in fact for peaceful purposes and it is currently using its power of veto to block UN Security Council members from passing stringent anti-Iranian sanctions.

On the diplomatic front, Egypt and Russia have also strengthened ties after a visit by Vladimir Putin to the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2006. Putin’s was the first visit to Egypt by a Russian president in 40 years. Egypt’s one-time close relationship with Moscow ended in 1970 when Cairo decided to ally itself with Washington instead.

Earlier this year, Egypt and Russia signed a deal involving Russian participation in Cairo’s nuclear power plans enabling Russia to bid on construction of Egypt’s first atomic power plant.

Further, it is likely that once the US and allied troops have departed Iraq, Russia will step up its influence there. Mai Yamani writing in Lebanon’s Daily Star says Russia has already, “written off some US$ 12 billion in debt dating from Saddam Hussein’s years in power and is pushing to create an Iraq-Syria oil pipeline.”

Russian officials have also disagreed with the US and its allies over their push for democratic reform in the Middle East. As reported recently in the Gulf News, Alexander Saltanov, the special envoy of the President of the Russian Federation to the Middle East, “feels home-grown democracy and not any Western-style reforms can be embraced in the Middle East.”

“Each state is implementing democratic principles in its own way. Even more so when it comes to the Middle East – the cradle of the world’s religions with invaluable cultural and historical experience, national peculiarities of these countries, their customary way of life, including the religious factor – can we effectively contribute to modernisation and sustainable development…,” Saltanov stated.

There is a further indication that Russia, a member of the Quartet, seeks a greater mediation role in any Palestine-Israel peace process but Israel has yet to show any enthusiasm, unlike the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who welcomes the idea.

Russia’s own oil wealth, its strained relations with Washington and London, plus its renewed strategic ambitions, are fuelling a new balance of power in the Middle East. Certainly for Washington and Tel Aviv this is bad news. Whether it could be classed as good news for the neighbourhood as a whole, has yet to be seen and will depend on Russia’s capacity to be a force for good rather than a self-interested hostile actor playing on an already complex and troubled stage.