When Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed last weekend in a joint U.S.-Israeli operation, Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately reacted with a condolence message that excoriated the killing as “a cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law.” It was an eye-popping display of hypocrisy, considering that the Kremlin has spent the past four years trying to kill Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
For Russia’s allies, however, the blatant double standard was not the main takeaway from Putin’s response to the military strikes against the Iranian regime. What was more notable, and more worrisome, was that once again Russia was defending its allies only with words, even as their survival hung in the balance.
Time and again since he launched his all-out invasion of Ukraine, Putin has shown that an alliance with Russia has become little more than a paper shield. It’s a lesson that is being absorbed by current and prospective allies. Ironically, in trying to expand Russia’s sphere of influence and expand its global reach, Putin has made his country weaker and less able to project power.