Universal History Annotation << Back RUSSIA’S NATIONAL INTERESTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AT THE END XIX–EARLY XX CENTURY THROUGH THE PRISM OF FOREIGN POLICY VIEWS OF RUSSIAN CONSERVATIVES V.Yu. Belyankina The article analyzes the views of representatives of the Russian conservative community of the late 19th - early 20th centuries on the problem of Russia’s national interests in the Middle East, economic and political influence in Persia and Afghanistan. The main attention is paid to the assessment of the Russian-English agreement of 1907 on the delimitation of spheres of infl uence in Iran, Afghanistan among Russian conservatives. On the basis of archival materials and periodicals, the author reveals the attitude of the right-wing parties to the political crisis in Persia between the offi cial government of Shah Magomed Ali and the opposition and its signifi cance for Russian interests, the threat to Russian trade missions and concessions, and the lack of security for the Russian loan to Persia. The attitude of public and political circles to the issue of German advancement in the region is considered: the construction of the Baghdad railway, the projects of the German loan to the Persian authorities, the involvement of military specialists. The author describes the problem of Russian-English rivalry in Afghanistan. Analyzing party periodicals, the author notes that to a greater extent Russian society was interested not in confrontation with England, but in the threat of the religious and cultural infl uence of Afghans on Russian Central Asian territories with a Muslim population. The article touches upon the topic of international relations and Russian foreign policy of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Keywords: Russian-English agreement, Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan, conservatives, right-wing parties. DOI: 10.25791/vseist.02.2021.1130 Pp. 22-30.