Why is Russia allied with Iran? A chief reason is Chechnya, the 
breakaway republic that has fought wars against Russia in each of the 
last two decades, with casualties estimated as high as 200,000 dead 
among civilians, 40,000 dead among Chechen fighters and 40,000 dead 
among Russian soldiers. The West doesn’t hear much of these wars, whose 
toll far exceeds the 80,000 estimate of deaths in Syria, but the threat 
of both separatism and Islamic fundamentalism looms large within Russia 

 
 
As Russian President Putin put it, ”If extremist forces manage to get a 
hold in the Caucasus this infection may spread up the Volga River, 
spread to other republics, and we either face the full Islamization of 
Russia, or we will have to agree to Russia’s division into several 
independent states.” 
 
 

In this potentially existential war against the Chechens, who are 
Sunnis, Shiite Iran is solidly in Russia’s corner, not only by declaring Russia’s war on
Chechens to be an internal Russian affair but by 
supporting Russia’s claim that the Chechens have been financed by their 
Sunni brothers in Saudi Arabia, trained by their Sunni brothers in 
Pakistan, reinforced by Sunni fighters from some 30 to 40 states, and 
backed diplomatically by Sunni Turkey and the U.S., two countries which 
both Russia and Iran see as interfering in their spheres of influence.
To limit American influence in the Middle East and beyond, Russia 
militarily supports Iran – Iran’s nuclear plant comes courtesy of Russia – and Iran’s allies, chiefly Syrian president Assad, who like Putin 
must repel Saudi-backed Sunni rebels to keep his regime intact. But all 
these geopolitical maneuvers are also driven by an economic rationale.
 

http://opinion.financialpost.com/2013/06/06/lawrence-solomon-the-new-cold-war/