Russia’s recent threat to veto any action against Syria in the UN is clearly a move to protect the business relationship between the two countries.  I don’t entirely believe Russia fits into any particular International Relations theory at any given time.  I do believe they change their stance from Liberal to Realist, Realist to Liberal and even switching between Radical and back again.  I think Russia depending on which country it is dealing with and which situation it is facing will change its stance.  Generally, I think they tend towards liberalism most often, and are doing so in this recent threat to veto.  Russia is clearly working in their own self interest in this situation.  The veto has no benefit really to any other country other than Russia.  It is well known that Russia and Syria have a long history of working together and Russia is know to be a major arms supplier of the Arab nation.  Russia is taking the stance here that since Syria is a sovereign nation other nations should not interfere in their affairs.  They believe that ultimately the government will be able to overcome the difficult times and that the good of the government will prevail.  Primarily though, Russia seeks to keep relations between the countries good, Russia and Syria have billions of dollars in business with each other every year.  They both would like to see the trade and open markets to stay open, not slapped with restrictions.  A similar argument could be made with Burma and China, a historical relationship which benefits a world power.  In the case of the USA and Iraq, the situation benefited the US to invade and since Iraq had no major allies and trading partners there was no objection from any major powers.  In this situation I feel Russia is definitely taking a liberal stance in hopes of maintaining its state interests in Syria.