Another in our series of translations of the latest Carnegie Politika articles.
Their War and Ours: What Russia is Counting on in the Yemen Conflict
Russia, along with Iran, has become one of the few countries actively interacting with the Houthis, including at the diplomatic level. This closeness makes contacts with Russia important for other parties to the Yemeni conflict.
28 May 2025
Ruslan Suleymanov
On May 28, Vladimir Putin held talks in Moscow with the Chairman of the Presidential Governing Council of Yemen, Rashad Mohammed al-Alimi. The internationally recognized authorities of the Arab Republic, torn apart by a decade of civil war, are counting on economic and food aid from Russia. In addition, the Kremlin, which has recently increased contacts with the Houthi rebels, could make its contribution to settling the long-running conflict in Yemen, including by influencing the rebels. However, for now, Moscow, which remains in confrontation with the West, has neither the strength nor the desire to rein in the Houthis, who take a sharply anti-Western position.
Yemen today
For more than a decade, Yemen has been in the grip of a brutal military conflict, which has been exacerbated by the active participation of external forces. For example, Iran has long supported the rebels from the Ansar Allah movement, better known as the Houthis, who control about a third of the territory in the north of the country, including the capital Sanaa.
The internationally recognized authorities, represented by the Presidential Governing Council of Yemen, enjoy the support of Saudi Arabia. The latter attempted to directly intervene in the conflict in March 2015, launching a military operation against the Houthis along with its allies. But the campaign, planned to last several weeks, dragged on for years and did not lead to the expected result. As a result, in April 2022, Riyadh agreed to a humiliating truce with the rebels, but did not completely lose interest in what was happening in the neighboring country. The official authorities of Yemen spend most of their time in Riyadh.
There is another side in this conflict – the Southern Transitional Council. It relies on the support of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and advocates for the independence of the southern regions of the country within the borders of the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, which existed from 1967 to 1990. The southern leadership controls, among other things, the temporary capital and main port of the Arab Republic – Aden.
Years of civil war have plunged Yemen into a deep humanitarian crisis. About half of the country’s 34 million people now face severe food shortages, and the per capita GDP has more than halved since 2015.
The situation worsened further after the Houthis began attacking ships in the Red Sea in the fall of 2023. The US and its allies responded to these attacks by bombing Yemeni territory. As a result, oil exports through Aden practically stopped, which is why the budget revenues of the internationally recognized authorities fell by 42% in the first half of 2024 alone. The country is in dire need of international assistance, which it is counting on, in particular from Russia.
Views of Moscow
Moscow is in no hurry to shower Yemen with humanitarian aid, but is ready to discuss cooperation in some areas. For example, Rosgeologiya is interested in exploring oil fields in the Arab Republic. The two countries generally intend to intensify joint work in the fuel and energy field, which was recently agreed upon by Deputy Head of the Russian Ministry of Energy Roman Marshavin and Ambassador of the Arab Republic to Moscow Ahmed al-Waheishi.
Yemen has also become one of the largest importers of Russian grain: by the end of 2024, Russia had delivered about 2 million tons to the Arab Republic. The first meeting of a Russian-Yemeni intergovernmental commission is scheduled for 2025. But the main issue in relations between the two countries still remains Moscow’s possible participation in the Yemeni settlement.
For many years, Russia had neither special interests nor preferences in the Yemen conflict. Russian officials still emphasize their arms’ length approach, regularly meeting with representatives of both the internationally recognized authorities and the Houthis, and even southern separatists. But over the past year, the Houthis, with their hardline anti-Western ideology and attacks on passing Western ships, have begun to arouse particular interest in the Kremlin, even to the point of developing military cooperation.
For example, military advisers from the GRU are working in Sanaa. And UN Security Council experts are increasingly reporting on attempts to smuggle weapons into Yemen with performance specifications and markings similar to those produced in Russia.
Last fall, it was leaked that the Russians, through Iran, were negotiating with the rebels about transferring Yakhont anti-ship missiles (also known as P-800 Onyx/Oniks). Moreover, one of the negotiators on the Moscow side is Viktor Bout, who was previously sentenced to 25 years in prison in the US for illegal arms trafficking, but was released during a prisoner exchange between Moscow and Washington.
The Houthis have proven useful to the Kremlin primarily because they distract the West’s attention and resources from supporting Ukraine. In addition, their prospects in the civil war look quite good – the recent bombings of the US and Israel have strengthened their popularity, leading to increased public support. Now the Houthis continue to shell Israeli territory – it is possible that here too, Moscow is involved, providing them with satellite data.
In turn, Yemeni rebels respond to Moscow with support on issues of interest to it, strengthening its claims to the status of leader of global anti-Westernism. For example, according to the Houthis, the war in Ukraine was caused by “the terrible US policy,” and in the summer of 2024, Russia, with the participation of Ansar Allah, managed to deceive hundreds of Yemenis into fighting in Ukraine.
Russia as party to the conflict
While formally denying military support for the rebels, Russia, along with Iran, has become one of the few countries actively engaging with the Houthis, including at the diplomatic level. The Houthi leadership says it shares common goals with Russia in the Middle East, and Moscow is calling on Washington to reconsider its decision to designate Ansar Allah as a terrorist organization.
Such political intimacy makes contacts with Russia important for other parties to the Yemeni conflict as well. Before the current visit of the Chairman of the Presidential Council to Moscow, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Bogdanov had met with Yemeni Ambassador al-Waheishi four times since the beginning of this year alone. Official Yemeni authorities clearly expect that the Kremlin can contribute to improving the situation in the country, including by containing the radical activity of the Houthis, from which the residents of the Arab Republic themselves suffer in no small measure.
Moreover, there is no one to turn to except Moscow. Until recently, they hoped that American bombing would allow them to conduct a successful ground operation against the rebels and regain control of the lost territories. But the rapid cessation of the US operation in early May showed that the Americans are not ready to fight Ansar Allah for a prolonged period, especially against the backdrop of active negotiations with Iran. True, hopes for Russian support in resolving the conflict are unlikely to be justified. The ongoing war in Ukraine is taking up too many of Moscow’s resources, and the civil war in Yemen is definitely not the direction the Kremlin is ready to redirect them to. On the contrary, the successes of the Houthis, who have paralyzed about 12% of international trade while distracting the West, suit the Russians quite well. After the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria last year, Russia has few allies left in the Middle East, and it is not ready to risk them for the sake of international stability.
Translating History 