Russia and the Middle East:Interaction in Arts and Culture

Iran-Russia relations date back to the 16th century. Such historical ties intertwined with a long-standing tradition of cultural, political and social interactions give both countries even more reason to step up cooperation in as many fields as possible. It may come as a pleasant surprise for us Iranians to know that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is one of the most influential people in the world, has listed a book of poetry by Persian poet and mathematician Omar Khayyam among his top nine favorite books. Russia also published in 2008 the first edition of ‘Khayyam and Putin’, a book containing Putin s favorite quatrains written by Khayyam and some of the Russian s interviews with news net-works around the globe regarding his admiration for the Persian poet. ...the history of our countries [Iran and Russia] and the interaction of our cultures goes much deeper and has much stronger roots than specialists sometimes think. This is the guarantee that we will always find a way of solving any problems that arise, because we understand each other, President Vladimir Putin had once said in an interview in 2007.In this paper, we want to review relationships between Iran and Russia in Arts and Culture from past until now.