Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is using oil and gas agreements to magnify military power in the Middle East, Marc Champion and Javier Blas argue in Bloomberg. “Russia is really keen to increase leverage in the Middle East by every means,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of Russia’s Council on Foreign and Defense Policy. Champion and Blas point to Rosneft’s recent acquisition of a stake in the Zohr gas field and to the “strong relationship” Putin has built with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. They also note that Russian arms sales to the region are also increasing; “Russia has benefited from an effective, if gruesome advertisement for its weaponry in Syria, as well as U.S. disengagement from the region, said Nikolay Kozhanov, a Russia-based academy associate of Chatham House.” Putin’s next big bet in the Middle East, after Syria, is Libya as he continues to forge ties with military leader Khalifa Haftar, Kozhanov says.

The FT’s BeyondBrics blog also gets in on the Putin action, with Egypt getting a plug in “Putin is exporting ‘sovereign democracy’ to new EM allies.”