Russia and Iran inked a comprehensive strategic partnership back in January, pledging closer ties and cooperation. Yet after the strikes by Israel and the US, the Kremlin found itself in a difficult position, unclear as to how to help Tehran when it was in real danger.

Last week, Putin dismissed as “provocations” criticism that Russia is an unreliable partner. He stressed that Russia supports Iran “in the fight for its interests with regard to peaceful nuclear energy.”

“Some say we should have done more... More what? Launch combat operations? We are already conducting combat operations against those we consider adversaries,” Putin said at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday. “We have built a nuclear reactor in Iran and signed contracts for two more. We are continuing that work. We are not evacuating our personnel from there.”

At the same time, Putin noted that Russia is mindful of the fact that many Israeli citizens are originally from the former USSR and Russia, adding: “it’s practically a Russian-speaking country.”

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov condemned Israel’s strikes in a comment to the state-run Russia-1 TV channel, warning that the situation may escalate into “World War III.”

“If every country is allowed to interpret the UN Charter’s right to self-defense as ‘I decide for myself when to apply it, without regard to the Charter,’ then that is not world order anymore, it’s complete chaos,” Lavrov said.

The Kremlin had offered to act as a mediator in the war, Russian news outlet RBC reported last week, but Trump supposedly declined the offer.

Russia’s position became even more complicated after the US itself hit Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday Moscow time. Russian officials responded cautiously and slowly, carefully choosing their words. The Foreign Affairs Ministry released a statement condemning the US strikes only 11 hours after the attack.

“This reckless decision to launch missile and aerial strikes on the territory of a sovereign state, regardless of the justifications offered, constitutes a blatant violation of international law, the UN Charter and relevant resolutions by the UN Security Council, which has consistently and unequivocally deemed such actions unacceptable. Particularly concerning is the fact that the strikes were executed by a permanent member of the UN Security Council,” the statement opened.

The US attacked Iran on the morning of June 22, the date of the Nazi invasion of the USSR in 1941, which many Russian media outlets latched on to. The daily pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda published an article pondering the possibility of nuclear war, asking: “How can one not suspect that Trump deliberately chose this dark date?”

“Most likely, this is just a ‘prelude’ to a new war, the first in human history with a ‘nuclear core.’ Not Hiroshima because there has been no atomic bombing of Iranian cities so far (knock on wood!). But the cynicism with which Americans are bombing nuclear facilities, fully aware of the consequences, is off the charts,” Komsomolskaya Pravda wrote.

Another pro-Kremlin news site, Gazeta.ru, published an op-ed reflecting on the future of the war. The author stated that Russia cannot assist Iran “for objective reasons” and reminded readers that the two nations are not bound by mutual military obligations.

“Given the current events, Netanyahu had no choice but to try to drag the Americans into the conflict,” the op-ed argued. “As we see, the Israeli prime minister and his lobbyists in Washington have successfully bent Trump to their will.”

Maria Zakharova, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, criticized a comment made by US Vice President JD Vance. In an interview with ABC News, Vance said he believed that Russia and China, like the US, do not want Iran to get nuclear weapons.

“First of all, Russia and China do not want US interference in their internal affairs in any form,” Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel. “As of today, the only country in the region that possesses nuclear weapons is Israel, which systematically ignores initiatives to establish a Middle East free of nuclear weapons and is now, together with the US, bombing Iran, a country that does not have any.”

Putin’s press chief, Dmitri Peskov, told reporters that Russia and the US had discussed the situation in Iran, but “there was no detailed briefing” about the US attack, RBC reported.

After Trump announced a ceasefire at the start of this week, Peskov said Russia supports the move.

“If a ceasefire has indeed been achieved, this can only be welcomed,” Interfax quoted Peskov as saying. “This is what Russia has been calling for since the beginning of this conflict.”